Stevens Capital Management LP Sells 802 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stevens Capital Management LP lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 29.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,892 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 802 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $211.63 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.50. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $151.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.