Northern Financial Advisors Inc Sells 1,988 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Northern Financial Advisors Inc cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 46.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,988 shares during the period. Northern Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after buying an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in Danaher by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $735,343,000 after buying an additional 642,759 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $248.70. 520,477 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,719,431. The company’s 50-day moving average is $248.27 and its 200 day moving average is $233.19. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.21 billion, a PE ratio of 42.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.