Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,057 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 835 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hall Laurie J Trustee boosted its holdings in Danaher by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 21,669 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,974,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares in the last quarter. Ballast Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 5,250 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 50,454 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,582,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 4,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $232,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $238.41 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $234.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $222.53 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

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.