Austin Private Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Austin Private Wealth LLC cut its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. State Street Corp lifted its position in Danaher by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,962,346 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,718,427,000 after acquiring an additional 866,600 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after buying an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 6.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after buying an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. HSBC initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $249.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $184.72 billion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $247.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

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.