General American Investors Co. Inc. Has $10.25 Million Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

General American Investors Co. Inc. lowered its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 50,010 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 5,000 shares during the quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,252,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 396.0% during the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $194.81. 3,064,789 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,521,429. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $205.72. The firm has a market cap of $139.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. Danaher Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank raised shares of Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.43.

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.