Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stake Trimmed by Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,224 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,392 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $22,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $181.42 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. The company has a market capitalization of $129.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $181.20 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $209.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $233.99.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.