Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lessened its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,588 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its position in Danaher by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors grew its position in Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust grew its position in Danaher by 0.3% during the third quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Connolly Sarah T. grew its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $236.08 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.39. The stock has a market cap of $174.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 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 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 over the last three months. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.