ING Groep NV Trims Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 11.4%, owning 121,721 shares after selling 15,681 shares, which were valued at approximately $24.95 million.
• Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares at $196.74 each, totaling around $245.93 million, decreasing his ownership by 28.7%.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook on Danaher, with a consensus price target of $247.61 and 18 out of 21 analysts giving it a buy rating.

ING Groep NV trimmed its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,721 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 15,681 shares during the period. ING Groep NV's holdings in Danaher were worth $24,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 485.7% in the 1st quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 25,098 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,145,000 after acquiring an additional 20,813 shares during the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $539,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 20,400.0% during the 1st quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 8,200 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,681,000 after buying an additional 8,160 shares during the period. Finally, Vision Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $461,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 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. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $225.00 price target (up from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $197.08 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $197.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $202.16. 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 company has a market capitalization of $141.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $279.90.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

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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