Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Third Point LLC

Third Point LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,050,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 400,000 shares during the period. Danaher makes up 7.2% of Third Point LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Third Point LLC owned approximately 0.28% of Danaher worth $474,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $3.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $264.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,200,301 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,748,716. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $195.99 billion, a PE ratio of 44.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $252.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.66. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.