LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Has $7.59 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,810 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 9,909 shares during the period. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,590,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Procyon Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 7,707 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after buying an additional 833 shares in the last quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Parisi Gray Wealth Management now owns 14,151 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,274,000 after buying an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC now owns 31,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $7,249,000 after purchasing an additional 2,725 shares in the last quarter. Family Legacy Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Family Legacy Inc. now owns 5,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 122,861 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,452,000 after purchasing an additional 49,733 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays lowered shares of Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $249.56. 920,881 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,738,226. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $246.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $184.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.02%.

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.