Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Stock Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 6.6%, now holding 21,397 shares valued at approximately $4.39 million.
• Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1.25 million shares of Danaher for $245.93 million, which represented a 28.70% decrease in his ownership.
• Analysts show mixed sentiments with Bank of America lowering its target price from $265.00 to $230.00, while Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from "hold" to "buy".

Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,397 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,505 shares during the quarter. Marble Harbor Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $4,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 396.0% during 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 last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Sierra Ocean LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE DHR traded up $2.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $199.77. 905,326 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,284,760. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $279.90. The firm has a market cap of $143.05 billion, a PE ratio of 42.44, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $197.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Leerink Partners raised their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. HSBC dropped their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.61.

About Danaher

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.