Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Lowers Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,638 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 73 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced 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. Barclays raised Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $186.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $201.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.23. The stock 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 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.