Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Decreased by Crestwood Advisors Group LLC

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 321,180 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,126 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 1.3% of Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $65,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 worth $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 2.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Danaher by 2.3% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Danaher by 14.3% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective 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. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $6.07 on Thursday, hitting $203.96. 4,571,636 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,241,916. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $145.97 billion, a PE ratio of 43.39, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company's fifty day moving average is $195.94 and its 200 day moving average is $204.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 14.21%. The business's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.