Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Northstar Asset Management Inc.

Northstar Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 29,632 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 59 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 2.0% of Northstar Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Northstar Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $6,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after acquiring an additional 134,905 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,752,382,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,620,170 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,531,510,000 after acquiring an additional 395,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after acquiring an additional 82,672 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Danaher Stock Down 2.2 %

DHR stock traded down $5.79 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $261.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,897,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,699,828. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $249.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.04. The company has a market capitalization of $193.62 billion, a PE ratio of 45.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $268.98.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,540 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,481 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.