BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 2,192 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 49,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,192 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $11,465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Danaher by 1.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of DHR opened at $206.92 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $233.38 and a 200 day moving average of $252.10. The company has a market cap of $149.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $205.79 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.