Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Stack Financial Management Inc

Stack Financial Management Inc trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 77,543 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 840 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 2.0% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Stack Financial Management Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 540.0% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on DHR. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,132 shares of company stock worth $21,022,795 over the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded up $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $246.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,231,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,765,696. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.88.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.