Hudson Value Partners LLC Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hudson Value Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,695 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 782 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for 1.9% of Hudson Value Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Hudson Value Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $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 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after buying an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $204.22 on Wednesday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $228.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $248.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.50 billion, a PE ratio of 38.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Danaher

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.