Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Director Alan G. Spoon Sells 708 Shares

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $1.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $248.38. 1,738,926 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,768,559. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $248.59 and a 200-day moving average of $232.00. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 733.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.