Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Riverstone Advisors LLC

Riverstone Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,860 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for 6.7% of Riverstone Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Riverstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. bought a new position in Danaher in the third quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 90 days. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.43.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,427,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,677,468. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $249.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.84. 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 stock has a market cap of $178.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.90%.

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.