Aviso Financial Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Aviso Financial Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,736 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 811 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price 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. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $203.96 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $220.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.22. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $145.77 billion, a PE ratio of 38.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.