Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Chairman Steven M. Rales Sells 1,250,000 Shares

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $190.87 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $197.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $217.96. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Institutional Trading of Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 396.0% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.