Dillon & Associates Inc. Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Dillon & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 49,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 1.6% of Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Dillon & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $11,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $211.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $238.50. The company has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.