Monetary Management Group Inc. Sells 700 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Monetary Management Group Inc. lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 42.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 950 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Monetary Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Heritage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,840,000. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 338,636 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $77,734,000 after buying an additional 3,038 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 373,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $85,840,000 after acquiring an additional 47,447 shares during the period. CenterBook Partners LP increased its position in Danaher by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 17,685 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,060,000 after acquiring an additional 4,923 shares during the period. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,401,117 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $551,177,000 after purchasing an additional 350,815 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $180.64 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.21, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $204.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.46. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed 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. Barclays raised Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.57.

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.