Pictet North America Advisors SA Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pictet North America Advisors SA lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 64.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,169 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 4,755 shares during the quarter. Pictet North America Advisors SA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,793,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after buying an additional 428,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after buying an additional 397,671 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $230.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.28.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.