Calamos Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Calamos Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 36.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 329,902 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,658 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $76,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $3.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $236.36. The company had a trading volume of 4,235,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,725,360. The company has a fifty day moving average of $249.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

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.