Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Decreases Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 21.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,522,956 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 709,054 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises 2.9% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP's portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP owned 0.35% of Danaher worth $517,206,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 396.0% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $25,000 after buying 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 raised its position in 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 position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $210.00 to $205.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.4%

Danaher stock traded up $2.79 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $205.60. 5,355,600 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,272,389. The company has a fifty day moving average of $196.19 and a 200-day moving average of $204.15. The company has a market cap of $147.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher's payout ratio is 27.23%.

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.