Middleton & Co. Inc. MA Sells 5,875 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Middleton & Co. Inc. MA cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,169 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,875 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 2.0% of Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 9,166 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 3,897 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 40,837 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,374,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 551,994 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $126,711,000 after buying an additional 43,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

Danaher stock opened at $207.73 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $224.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $245.09. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.