Stephens Inc. AR Reduces Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stephens Inc. AR lowered its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,115 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after acquiring an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 30.4% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after acquiring an additional 397,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $74,551,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $201.15 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $231.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $251.14. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $199.75 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $145.29 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on DHR. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.