M&R Capital Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

M&R Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 512 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 79 shares during the period. M&R Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Danaher by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $1,752,382,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $2.92 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $257.05. The stock had a trading volume of 2,268,334 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,771,294. The business has a fifty day moving average of $253.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.68. The firm has a market cap of $190.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.46, a PEG ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 in the last three months. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Company 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.