Bailard Inc. Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bailard Inc. cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 80,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,427 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $18,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in Danaher by 27.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Down 1.1 %

DHR stock traded down $2.70 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $250.41. 3,064,441 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,783,958. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $249.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $230.78. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.44 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

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.