Riverstone Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Riverstone Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,860 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,100 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for approximately 6.7% of Riverstone Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Riverstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.43.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of DHR stock traded up $0.83 on Tuesday, hitting $240.49. 1,427,889 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,677,468. The business has a 50-day moving average of $249.58 and a 200 day moving average of $229.84. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Insiders own 10.90% 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.