Canton Hathaway LLC Cuts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Canton Hathaway LLC lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,300 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Danaher comprises 0.8% of Canton Hathaway LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Canton Hathaway LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Fairfield Bush & CO. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.9% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in Danaher by 19.3% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,468 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in Danaher by 76.8% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 14.1% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,248,000 after acquiring an additional 3,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP boosted its position in Danaher by 135.9% during the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,346,000 after acquiring an additional 20,320 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.43.

Danaher Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $0.77 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $239.18. The stock had a trading volume of 1,611,148 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,678,149. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $249.71 and its 200-day moving average is $229.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 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.