Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 9,713 Shares of Danaher Corporation $DHR

Key Points

• Welch & Forbes trimmed its Danaher stake by 9,713 shares (1.6%) in the third quarter, but still held 588,611 shares valued at about $130.4 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: 18 analysts rated Danaher a Buy and five a Hold, for a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $242.91.
• Danaher reported quarterly EPS of $2.11, beating estimates of $1.92, while revenue rose 8.3% year over year to $6.55 billion, just below consensus.

Welch & Forbes LLC lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 588,611 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,713 shares during the period. Danaher makes up approximately 1.5% of Welch & Forbes LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Welch & Forbes LLC owned 0.08% of Danaher worth $130,407,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Montis Financial LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 2.3% during the third quarter. Montis Financial LLC now owns 2,020 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its stake in Danaher by 24.0% during the 3rd quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 49,192 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $10,898,000 after buying an additional 9,519 shares during the period. Texas Bank & Trust Co increased its stake in Danaher by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Bank & Trust Co now owns 4,065 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $901,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC now owns 1,404 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 7,013 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,554,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Danaher from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Danaher from $246.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Danaher from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $240.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Danaher from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $242.91.

Danaher Stock Up 2.2%

Danaher stock opened at $235.21 on Tuesday. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $160.93 and a 1-year high of $242.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The stock has a market cap of $165.48 billion, a PE ratio of 38.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.76. The stock's fifty day moving average is $220.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $201.57.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The conglomerate reported $2.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.19. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.17% and a net margin of 16.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 8.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.19%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Christopher Bouda sold 7,598 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.56, for a total transaction of $1,782,186.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,136,137.92. The trade was a 45.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Danaher Profile

Danaher is a global science and technology company that develops and supplies products and services for biotechnology, life sciences, and diagnostics markets. Its offerings include instruments, reagents, consumables, software, and services used in research, drug development and manufacturing, and clinical testing.

The company's businesses include well-known brands such as Cytiva and Pall in bioprocessing and filtration, Beckman Coulter in laboratory and clinical diagnostics, Cepheid in molecular diagnostics, and Leica Microsystems in microscopy.

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