Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. reduced its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 52.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 86,234 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 94,730 shares during the quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $19,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on DHR. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $1.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $245.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,016,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,749,436. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.79 billion, a PE ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $231.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

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.