Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Decreased by Bailard Inc.

Bailard Inc. cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,427 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $18,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its position in Danaher by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Connolly Sarah T. lifted its position in Danaher by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $2.70 on Wednesday, reaching $250.41. The stock had a trading volume of 3,064,441 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,783,958. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $249.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.78. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.