Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by M.D. Sass LLC

M.D. Sass LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 155,987 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 20,261 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 2.7% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $35,807,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 212.5% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 12.6% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,932 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after purchasing an additional 116,299 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE DHR opened at $212.97 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $216.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.13.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher 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.