Hartford Financial Management Inc. Trims Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 159 shares during the quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Well Done LLC increased its position in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $987,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $223.16 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $161.19 billion, a PE ratio of 42.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $235.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.45. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $221.34 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted 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 return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 8.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Danaher Company Profile

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.