Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 46.3%, holding 56,653 shares valued at approximately $11.61 million after selling 48,760 shares in Q1.
• In Q1, other institutional investors like GHP Investment Advisors Inc. and Sierra Ocean LLC significantly increased their stakes in Danaher, indicating continued institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts have mixed reviews on Danaher, with target price adjustments ranging from $225.00 to $260.00, while maintaining a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 46.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,653 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 48,760 shares during the quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $11,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at approximately $539,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 20,400.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 8,200 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,681,000 after buying an additional 8,160 shares in the last quarter. Vision Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at approximately $461,000. Finally, Eos Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 55.8% in the first quarter. Eos Management L.P. now owns 40,567 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $8,316,000 after buying an additional 14,537 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business's 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 completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4%

Danaher stock traded down $0.91 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $205.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,993,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,267,025. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's fifty day moving average is $196.69 and its 200 day moving average is $203.24. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DHR. UBS Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

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.