Ieq Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ieq Capital LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 32,195 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,508 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $208.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $247.52. The firm has a market cap of $150.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.41, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Company 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.