Bath Savings Trust Co Cuts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bath Savings Trust Co cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,839 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,095 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 1.7% of Bath Savings Trust Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Bath Savings Trust Co’s holdings in Danaher were worth $16,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp raised its stake in Danaher by 4.5% in the second quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $239.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,332,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,527,512. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $222.53 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $236.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.22. The firm has a market cap of $172.78 billion, a PE ratio of 45.65, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.80.

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.