Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,456 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 231 shares during the period. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,440.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $17.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $253.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,876,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,777,720. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $248.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 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.