Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Aviso Financial Inc.

Aviso Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,736 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 811 shares during the period. Aviso Financial Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in 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 period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued 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 $278.00.

Danaher Stock Down 0.5 %

DHR stock opened at $203.96 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $220.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $241.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.