Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Connable Office Inc.

Connable Office Inc. lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 12,504 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,626 shares during the quarter. Connable Office Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,870,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 9,166 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,104,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 3,897 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $895,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 40,837 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,374,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Danaher by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 551,994 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $126,711,000 after purchasing an additional 43,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after purchasing an additional 26,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $207.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $224.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $148.47 billion, a PE ratio of 39.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently 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.