Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stake Reduced by SlateStone Wealth LLC

SlateStone Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,223 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,470 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% in the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 27.7% in the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $1.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $251.92. 325,435 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,746,542. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $186.56 billion, a PE ratio of 39.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $248.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.64. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last 90 days. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Citigroup upped their price objective on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.00.

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.