Boston Trust Walden Corp Cuts Stock Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Boston Trust Walden Corp reduced its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,292 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 663 shares during the quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $914,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,343 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Danaher by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,739 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. HSBC lowered their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Argus lowered their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock opened at $194.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $193.74 and its 200 day moving average is $210.00. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors 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 0.66%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the 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 approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were 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 owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company 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.