IMS Capital Management Cuts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

IMS Capital Management decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,779 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 155 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for about 1.1% of IMS Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. IMS Capital Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.4% during the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Well Done LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $987,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

Danaher stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $230.49 and a 200-day moving average of $250.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Danaher Company 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.