Mitchell Capital Management Co. Trims Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mitchell Capital Management Co. reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,432 shares during the period. Mitchell Capital Management Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,287,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 14,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,979,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 7,491 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,083,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 94.7% during the 3rd quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 2,882 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $801,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $318,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $224.58 and its 200 day moving average is $244.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.