SVB Wealth LLC Cuts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

SVB Wealth LLC reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,044 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,582 shares during the quarter. SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $12,965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Danaher by 6.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after purchasing an additional 502,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Danaher by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,057,164,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on DHR shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays raised their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.43.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $239.61. The company had a trading volume of 701,747 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,667,551. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $249.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.84. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.44 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

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.