Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc. trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 68,109 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 443 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 2.9% of Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Ramsay Stattman Vela & Price Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $15,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $206.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $229.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.13. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.