Sky Investment Group LLC Sells 248 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sky Investment Group LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,854 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 248 shares during the period. Danaher makes up approximately 1.5% of Sky Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Kentucky Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $204.85 on Friday. 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 twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $146.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $192.27 and its 200 day moving average is $211.44.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 company had revenue of $5.74 billion for 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.