First Horizon Advisors Inc. Has $1.42 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,116 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 562 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of DHR opened at $248.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The firm has a market cap of $183.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $248.59 and its 200-day moving average is $232.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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.