Brown Advisory Inc. Sells 209,177 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Brown Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,780,102 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 209,177 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 1.1% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $867,722,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its stake in Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,639 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $8,044,000. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Up 1.2 %

DHR stock opened at $199.15 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $199.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.78. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.53 billion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.