Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 2,146 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,974 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,146 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 value 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 $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $224.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $245.09.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 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 prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.