Stonegate Investment Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,518 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 47,128 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 1.5% of Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $49,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Cercano Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after acquiring an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $246.66. The company had a trading volume of 3,940,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,271. The company has a market capitalization of $182.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $248.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.79.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The business 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 11.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.