Torray Investment Partners LLC Sells 16,763 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Torray Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 90%, holding only 1,871 shares valued at approximately $384,000 following the sale of 16,763 shares during the first quarter.
• Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock for over $245 million, representing a 28.7% decrease in his ownership of the company.
• Danaher Corporation reported a 3.4% year-over-year increase in revenue, achieving $5.94 billion for the quarter along with an EPS of $1.80, exceeding analysts' expectations.

Torray Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 90.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,871 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 16,763 shares during the quarter. Torray Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $384,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,800,614,000 after buying an additional 194,466 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,821,477,000 after buying an additional 992,594 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,812,728 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,334,312,000 after buying an additional 370,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,677,032 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,303,163,000 after buying an additional 579,046 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Down 0.0%

Danaher stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $197.08. The stock had a trading volume of 5,736,543 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,375,955. 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 Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $279.90. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $197.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.12 billion, a PE ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%. Danaher's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Danaher's payout ratio is 27.23%.

Insider Activity

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 currently owned by 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.