TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,710 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 21,713 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $19,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded up $0.87 on Friday, reaching $197.37. The company had a trading volume of 2,608,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,354,979. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $200.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.06 billion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % 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. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.