Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,404 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 18.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,404 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Bridge Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 10,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 92.2% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,709 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,402,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,197 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 44.8% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,984,000 after acquiring an additional 4,505 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $196.13 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $191.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $212.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $140.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.24.

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.