Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Sterling Capital Management LLC

Sterling Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 85,469 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,011 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $19,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.57.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock opened at $180.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $129.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $204.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.46. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.