Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 17,894 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,913 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 17,894 shares during the period. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI's holdings in Danaher were worth $9,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,853,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $74,551,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Danaher by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 3,088 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $204.85. The company had a trading volume of 3,427,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,285,892. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $211.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $146.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen 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 a consensus target price of $248.17.

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.