Evergreen Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Evergreen Capital Management LLC lowered its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $202.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $227.84. 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 market capitalization of $133.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the company 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.