Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Lowered by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Key Points

• Phoenix Financial Ltd. reduced its stake in Danaher Corporation by 75.6%, now holding 6,519 shares valued at $1.34 million after selling 20,196 shares in Q1.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their positions in Danaher, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its stake by over 24,958% to nearly 1.87 million shares valued at over $383 million.
• Danaher announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.28 and a yield of 0.62%.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. trimmed its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 75.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,519 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 20,196 shares during the quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $914,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,343 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $984,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $205.66. 1,792,975 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,265,226. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.77. 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 fifty day moving average price of $196.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $203.24.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 27.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. 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 report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.61.

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.