Calamos Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Calamos Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 36.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 329,902 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 87,658 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $76,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.8% in the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. New Hampshire Trust boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.3% in the third quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Connolly Sarah T. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.9% in the third quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Citigroup upped their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.27.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $3.03 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $236.36. 4,235,840 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,725,360. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.03 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.