Rice Partnership LLC Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Rice Partnership LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,920 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 529 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 2.1% of Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Rice Partnership LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $11,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $222.56 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $160.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.09. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $221.34 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

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.