Montag A & Associates Inc. Sells 750 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $6,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in Danaher by 629.0% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 7,516 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,725,000 after buying an additional 6,485 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 4,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,804 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empire Life Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 77,686 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,833,000 after purchasing an additional 14,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $206.66 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $229.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.26 billion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.