Insider Selling: Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) CEO Sells 47,175 Shares of Stock

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $4.59 during trading on Thursday, hitting $245.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,943,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,786,286. The firm has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $249.00 and its 200 day moving average is $230.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Raymond James boosted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 2.0% during the first quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 91,322 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $22,805,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $205,000. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.5% during the first quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,642 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 120,972 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $30,209,000 after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the first quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,399,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.