Howard Capital Management Group LLC Cuts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,106 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 123 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 380.0% during the 4th quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 168 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of DHR stock opened at $200.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $143.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $192.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $211.19.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.17.

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.