Quadrant Capital Group LLC Reduces Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Quadrant Capital Group LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,335 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 483 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,914,000 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 purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 8.3 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $181.42 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $209.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.99. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $181.20 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

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.