Haverford Trust Co Reduces Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Haverford Trust Co lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,137 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 595 shares during the quarter. Haverford Trust Co’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 882,312 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $202,535,000 after purchasing an additional 26,982 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,144,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE increased its position in shares of Danaher by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 12,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,927,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $212.97 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a PE ratio of 40.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.13.

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, 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Company 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.