Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Toth Financial Advisory Corp

Toth Financial Advisory Corp cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863,381 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Danaher by 4,248.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $376,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.17.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 1.7%

Danaher stock opened at $199.26 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.78. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $142.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 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.