Stonegate Investment Group LLC Sells 47,128 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 196,518 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 47,128 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 1.5% of Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $49,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in Danaher by 214.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $711,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,038 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.64.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $0.16 on Tuesday, reaching $246.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,940,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,271. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The company has a market capitalization of $182.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.79.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

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.