Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,804 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in Danaher during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.28.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 30,059 shares of company stock worth $8,400,897. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $1.24 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $242.88. 468,428 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,728,778. The company has a market capitalization of $179.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $268.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.53. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 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.