ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing Sells 184 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,161 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. ESG Planning DBA Harper Investing’s holdings in Danaher were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.1% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust raised its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 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 target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $205.69 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.90. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.01 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This is a boost 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 dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.