Clearstead Trust LLC Lowers Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Clearstead Trust LLC trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,397 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 44 shares during the period. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after acquiring an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,064,477,000 after acquiring an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,227,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $977,900,000 after purchasing an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $248.38. 1,787,817 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,914,990. The firm has a market cap of $183.97 billion, a PE ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $248.48 and its 200 day moving average is $232.27. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America raised their price objective on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Danaher 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.