Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) SVP Brian W. Ellis Sells 5,700 Shares of Stock

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $222.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $221.34 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $160.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.15, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.24.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.72% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on DHR. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.4% during the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 3.4% in the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Well Done LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% 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.