Griffin Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,677 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 237 shares during the period. Danaher comprises 1.6% of Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Tsfg LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.12.

Danaher Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $272.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $270.43 and a 200 day moving average of $259.59. The stock has a market cap of $201.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.