West Branch Capital LLC Has $49,000 Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

West Branch Capital LLC cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 49.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 238 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $49,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $200.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.80 and a 200-day moving average of $211.19. The stock has a market cap of $143.50 billion, a PE ratio of 37.98, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

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.