Geneva Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Geneva Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Danaher by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 170,217 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $39,482,000 after acquiring an additional 4,168 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 15,535 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,854,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Gratus Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Gratus Capital LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,227,376 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $304,512,000 after acquiring an additional 21,055 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 118,540 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,890 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $1.52 during trading on Friday, hitting $252.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 431,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,904. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $248.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $233.30. The company has a market capitalization of $187.36 billion, a PE ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 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 the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.