Boston Common Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC cut its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,822 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 16,027 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $19,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.80.

Danaher Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of DHR traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $240.74. The stock had a trading volume of 530,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,948,006. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $235.07 and its 200 day moving average is $253.45. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $222.53 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $173.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

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.