Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Has $583,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 94.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,521 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 42,906 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,064,477,000 after buying an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew 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 buying an additional 473,693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $248.85. 1,683,401 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,744,101. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $248.27 and a 200-day moving average of $233.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $184.32 billion, a PE ratio of 42.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 have sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.