ELCO Management Co. LLC Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ELCO Management Co. LLC lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,554 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 75 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $173.85 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.87 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $206.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $124.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.93, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value 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 $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

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.