Austin Private Wealth LLC Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Austin Private Wealth LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $352,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Danaher by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,962,346 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,718,427,000 after purchasing an additional 866,600 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 96,490.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Danaher by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,030,327,000 after acquiring an additional 502,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Barclays downgraded Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.4 %

DHR opened at $249.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $247.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $230.53. The stock has a market cap of $184.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Danaher

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.