Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 297 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth about $39,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $206.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $205.79 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $149.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $232.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.79.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.