Avidity Partners Management LP Sells 28,000 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Avidity Partners Management LP decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 29.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 28,000 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 1.5% of Avidity Partners Management LP's holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Avidity Partners Management LP's holdings in Danaher were worth $15,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $3.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $193.10. 2,762,134 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,383,353. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $199.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.68. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $138.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.