Apollon Wealth Management LLC Sells 1,693 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,594 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,693 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $4,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,800,614,000 after buying an additional 194,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after buying an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Bank of America lowered their target price on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $248.43.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3%

DHR traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $193.40. 2,662,300 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,520,045. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. Danaher Corporation has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.55, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $196.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $205.72.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.