Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 394,538 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,649 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Danaher worth $90,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $8,044,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 transaction 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 $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $230.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.28. The company has a market capitalization of $147.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year 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.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.45%.

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.