Emprise Bank Lowers Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Emprise Bank cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,318 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 232 shares during the quarter. Emprise Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC decreased their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.24.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.20% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $188.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $135.23 billion, a PE ratio of 35.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.49. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.