First Foundation Advisors Sells 10,408 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• First Foundation Advisors has reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 30.9%, selling 10,408 shares to hold a total of 23,304 shares valued at approximately $4.78 million.
• A number of institutional investors have modified their positions in Danaher, with GHP Investment Advisors raising its position by a significant 396% in the same quarter.
• Danaher recently reported earnings of $1.80 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 0.63%.

First Foundation Advisors lowered its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 30.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,408 shares during the period. First Foundation Advisors' holdings in Danaher were worth $4,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 396.0% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its position in Danaher by 116.9% during the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. HSBC reduced their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $202.91 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $145.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 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 has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $196.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.22.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.72 EPS. On average, 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 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 yield of 0.63%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher 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 transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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