Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Cuts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 121,352 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,449 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $28,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after acquiring an additional 82,672 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 13.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.27.

Danaher Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:DHR traded up $2.00 on Monday, reaching $237.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,051,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,700,366. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $248.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.90%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last three months. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.