Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Decreased by Westwood Holdings Group Inc.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 85.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,393 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 269,242 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Danaher by 460.6% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,348,544 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $309,558,000 after purchasing an additional 1,107,998 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1%

DHR stock opened at $196.33 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $140.51 billion, a PE ratio of 37.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $216.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Danaher

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.