MJP Associates Inc. ADV Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV decreased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,101 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,665 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Danaher were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $189.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $198.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $219.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a PE ratio of 35.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

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.