Private Trust Co. NA Sells 1,284 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Private Trust Co. NA lowered its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,175 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,284 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $224.58 and a 200 day moving average of $245.09. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.