Whittier Trust Co. Sells 2,014 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Whittier Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 125,026 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,014 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $28,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $209.90 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $218.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.46.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

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.