Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Sells 1,830 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 46.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,830 shares during the quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $205.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $244.31. The company has a market cap of $146.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.