Sapient Capital LLC Has $434,000 Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sapient Capital LLC lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,737 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tsfg LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 733.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE DHR traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $246.66. 3,940,969 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,785,271. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $182.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.79.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.