Welch & Forbes LLC Has $155.79 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 673,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,903 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 2.4% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $155,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other 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 value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,273 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,819 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4 %

Danaher stock traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $247.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,593,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,755,556. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $183.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $248.40 and a 200 day moving average of $232.89.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.31%.

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.