Amalgamated Bank Lowers Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,238 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,948 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $28,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock opened at $211.23 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $226.25 and its 200 day moving average is $246.44. The company has a market capitalization of $150.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.01, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Guggenheim started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.