Mechanics Bank Trust Department Sells 609 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,250 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 609 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Triad Investment Management raised its holdings in Danaher by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. Triad Investment Management now owns 2,803 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $700,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the first quarter worth about $119,000. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Planning Group LLC now owns 10,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643 shares during the period. Finally, CGN Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.29.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $2.51 on Tuesday, reaching $254.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,438,323 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,833,057. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $254.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.88. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The company has a market capitalization of $188.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given 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 currently 18.31%.

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.