Johnson Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 53.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,990 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,264 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,352,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total transaction of $11,735,699.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 172,540 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,481 in the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Danaher Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE DHR traded up $1.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $262.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,089,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,351,652. The company has a market capitalization of $194.64 billion, a PE ratio of 44.54, a PEG ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.83. 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 50 day moving average price of $249.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $238.95. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $268.98.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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 given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.