Abacus Planning Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,403 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 567 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,108,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $196.13 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $140.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average of $191.34 and a 200-day moving average of $212.19. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.