Mackay Shields LLC Has $17.61 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mackay Shields LLC decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 48.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,712 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 73,505 shares during the period. Mackay Shields LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cohen Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 37.3% during the 4th quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,595 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,253,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $120,718,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its position in shares of Danaher by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 76,215 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,936,000 after buying an additional 15,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 90.7% during the fourth quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 12,737 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,924,000 after buying an additional 6,058 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $209.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $226.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.96.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

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.