Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,412 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 620 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $15,132,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after buying an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter worth about $557,074,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock opened at $249.72 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $247.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.53. The company has a market cap of $184.72 billion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $215.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Barclays cut shares of Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.