Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC Sells 8,595 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,349 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 8,595 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for 1.1% of Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $20,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 1,137 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $261,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 113,056 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the period. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 101,121 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $23,212,000 after purchasing an additional 22,326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 864 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.41 and a 200 day moving average of $237.75.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

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.