Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,094,425 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 191,937 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned about 0.15% of Danaher worth $253,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 1,440.7% in 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. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $178,850,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $235.51. 2,351,430 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,437,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $174.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $248.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.05. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 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.