Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,735 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 243 shares during the quarter. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,853,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,551,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $44,241,000 after acquiring an additional 35,730 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 2,586 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE DHR opened at $194.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $210.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. Equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. HSBC dropped their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.