Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Insigneo Advisory Services LLC

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,257 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 398 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its stake in Danaher by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $988,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $274.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

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

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $190.85 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $136.40 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $202.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.47. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.