Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Epoch Investment Partners Inc.

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 82.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 30,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 146,155 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,503,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth $637,000. Biltmore Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 12.8% during the first quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 1,601 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,279,932,000 after acquiring an additional 52,679 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl grew its holdings in Danaher by 20.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 130,130 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,496,000 after acquiring an additional 21,804 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.4% during the first quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 414,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $103,414,000 after acquiring an additional 5,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 19,085 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $4,866,675.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,578,725. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 84,775 shares of company stock worth $21,802,690. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $274.13 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.35. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $277.72. The company has a market capitalization of $197.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.88.

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.