Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Reduced by Strengthening Families & Communities LLC

Strengthening Families & Communities LLC decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 96.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 140 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,773 shares during the period. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $32,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 4.4% during the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Well Done LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $987,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $203.42 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $232.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $203.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.92 billion, a PE ratio of 38.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.45%.

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.