Stephens Inc. AR Sells 2,115 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,115 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $201.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.14. The firm has a market cap of $145.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $199.75 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given 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 $278.00.

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.