First Horizon Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,914 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 273 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $5,923,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in Danaher by 6.1% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,337 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in Danaher by 1.8% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 3,572 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Bankshares Inc lifted its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 42,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,888,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $211.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $150.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $226.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.44.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’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 owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.