Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 610 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,044 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 610 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $383,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863,381 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in Danaher by 4,248.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Danaher by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $189.04 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $192.30 and its 200 day moving average is $213.12. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $135.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction 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 $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.