Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. Trims Stake in Danaher Corporation $DHR

Key Points

• Brass Tax Wealth Management cut its stake by 41.4%, selling 10,559 shares in the third quarter and now holds 14,959 Danaher shares worth about $2.97 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive with 19 Buy and 3 Hold ratings; Danaher has a consensus "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.55, well above recent trading levels.
• Danaher beat quarterly expectations (EPS $2.23 vs. $2.14) with revenue of $6.84B (+4.6% YoY) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.40 (annualized $1.60, yield ~0.9%).

Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 41.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,959 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,559 shares during the period. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,966,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,769,587 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $12,004,424,000 after purchasing an additional 788,499 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,758,240 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,318,926,000 after purchasing an additional 312,951 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,979,503,000. Generation Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 34.0% during the third quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 6,654,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,319,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.0% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,822,442 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $952,625,000 after purchasing an additional 186,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on DHR. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $254.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Argus set a $265.00 price objective on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $265.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $253.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total value of $274,573.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,099 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,060,642.99. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $187.34 on Friday. Danaher Corporation has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $242.80. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $218.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $215.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $132.47 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.93.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.09. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 14.71%.The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.14 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 25.40%.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation NYSE: DHR is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher's portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.

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