Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,588 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $830,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Klingenstein Fields & Co. LP now owns 55,036 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $12,732,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 193.8% in the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 2,756 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. now owns 70,873 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Danaher by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 306,534 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $70,914,000 after acquiring an additional 13,609 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s 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 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. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $236.08 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $174.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $248.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.39.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its 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. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

Danaher Company 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.