Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Reduces Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 78.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,397 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 23,534 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DHR shares. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research cut their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of DHR opened at $204.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.44 billion, a PE ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $191.79 and its 200 day moving average is $211.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. Sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

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.