Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC lessened its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,288 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $212.78 on Tuesday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $219.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $240.07. The company has a market cap of $152.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.76.

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.