Avalon Capital Management Has $749,000 Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Avalon Capital Management decreased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,265 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Avalon Capital Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $749,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised 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 worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of DHR opened at $211.23 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $150.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.01, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $226.25 and a 200-day moving average of $246.44.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. 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 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.