United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 1,283 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 103,385 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,283 shares during the quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $23,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.57.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $193.02 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $137.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.56, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $203.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.00. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.