CENTRAL TRUST Co Has $1.60 Million Stock Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 14.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,800 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,356 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,343 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 1,739 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $399,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of 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 reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.79 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $196.23. The stock had a trading volume of 6,548,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,476,584. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $209.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

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

Danaher Company 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.