Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Montag A & Associates Inc.

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 750 shares during the period. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $6,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Meridian Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $206.66 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $229.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.45%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.