Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by New Century Financial Group LLC

New Century Financial Group LLC lowered its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,344 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 56 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Danaher by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Danaher by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334,781 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,752,382,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,620,170 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,531,510,000 after purchasing an additional 395,498 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at $28,352,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Danaher Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $240.00 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $177.76 billion, a PE ratio of 40.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $255.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $246.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

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.