Meridian Financial Partners LLC Reduces Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Meridian Financial Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 904 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 53 shares during the quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 6,389 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 124.1% during the second quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 1,956 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after acquiring an additional 563,546 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 277.3% in the 2nd quarter. One Capital Management LLC now owns 5,026 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,694 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 81.7% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 14,441 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,608,000 after purchasing an additional 6,492 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $237.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $222.53 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $235.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.56.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.80.

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.