Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Cuts Stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 8.5%, selling 453,086 shares and ending the quarter with approximately 4.86 million shares valued at $996.47 million.
• Several hedge funds have adjusted their positions in Danaher, with GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increasing its stake by 396% and other firms such as Sierra Ocean LLC and Dunhill Financial LLC also expanding their holdings significantly.
• Analysts maintain a Moderate Buy rating on Danaher with a current average target price of $247.61, despite Goldman Sachs lowering its target price from $260 to $240.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 8.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,860,838 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 453,086 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.68% of Danaher worth $996,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 396.0% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 116.9% during the first quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 68.4% during the first quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 165 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank raised Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.61.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company'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 transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:DHR opened at $199.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.60 billion, a PE ratio of 42.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $197.95 and a 200-day moving average of $201.85. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $279.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% 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 earned $1.72 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

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.

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