Benin Management CORP Sells 194 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Benin Management CORP lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 194 shares during the period. Benin Management CORP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Strategic Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 30.6% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 18,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,823,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373 shares during the last quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management increased its stake in Danaher by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. Triangle Securities Wealth Management now owns 5,628 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.1% during the first quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 10,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 92.2% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 12,330 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,528,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 6.7% during the first quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,709 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,402,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.24.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $192.11 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $191.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $212.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $137.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.38, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for 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 research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Danaher’s dividend 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.