Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 33,927 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Federated Hermes Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 597,368 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 33,927 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $138,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Danaher by 6.5% during 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 buying an additional 502,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Danaher by 1.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $2,057,164,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of DHR stock traded down $1.64 during trading on Thursday, reaching $237.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,771,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,693,817. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The company has a market capitalization of $176.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $249.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $229.86.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.