Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,767 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Cercano Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James raised their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $25,997,094 over the last three months. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $247.40 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $248.40 and a 200 day moving average of $232.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $183.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

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.