W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Trims Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 26.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,327 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 830 shares during the quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth $5,923,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in Danaher by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $808,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 126,340 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $35,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,749 shares during the period. Finally, Magnus Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $230.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $147.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

About Danaher

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.