Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Rockland Trust Co.

Rockland Trust Co. lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 44.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,687 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James decreased their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $237.58 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $235.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.56. The firm has a market cap of $171.60 billion, a PE ratio of 45.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $222.53 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Danaher 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.