Deutsche Bank AG Lowers Stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank AG reduced its holdings in Danaher Corporation by 2.1% in Q1, with approximately 2.36 million shares valued at $483.3 million as the fund's assets at the end of the period.
• Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1.25 million shares for $245.9 million, significantly decreasing his ownership in the company by 28.7%.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish on Danaher, with consensus price targets averaging $247.61 and 18 analysts rating it as a buy.

Deutsche Bank AG reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,357,532 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 50,214 shares during the quarter. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.33% of Danaher worth $483,294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,230,087 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $867,168,000 after purchasing an additional 163,332 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter worth about $64,936,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in shares of Danaher by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 17,774 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,644,000 after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in shares of Danaher by 875.7% in the 1st quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 121,002 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $24,805,000 after buying an additional 108,600 shares during the period. Finally, AXS Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded up $2.21 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $200.70. 2,963,091 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,823,699. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.71 billion, a PE ratio of 42.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.73. The company's 50-day moving average is $198.46 and its 200 day moving average is $201.23. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $279.90.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.61.

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.