Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. Cuts Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,950 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Danaher by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Danaher by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $1,752,382,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’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 owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’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 owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $254.85. 3,097,194 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,930,997. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $188.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $253.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on DHR. Bank of America increased their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

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.