Avalon Capital Management Sells 1,419 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Avalon Capital Management has reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 43.5%, holding $378,000 in stock after selling 1,419 shares in the first quarter.
• Danaher reported earnings of $1.80 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.64, with revenue of $5.94 billion.
• The company also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, which represents a dividend yield of 0.62% and a payout ratio of 27.23%.

Avalon Capital Management reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 43.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,846 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,419 shares during the quarter. Avalon Capital Management's holdings in Danaher were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 396.0% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 116.9% in the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC lowered their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Down 1.9%

DHR traded down $3.94 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $200.05. The company had a trading volume of 3,077,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,284,208. The company has a market capitalization of $143.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.61, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.77. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $197.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $203.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.23%.

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.