Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 230,168 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 5,857 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $52,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its position in Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $8,044,000. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $264.40.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $5.40 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.42. 4,535,806 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,411,207. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $198.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $219.21.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related 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 value of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% 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.