American Trust Trims Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

American Trust lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,941 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,164 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Tsfg LLC increased its position in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $274.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $270.98 and a 200-day moving average of $258.24. The company has a market cap of $203.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.53, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.12.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,435,240. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total value of $4,525,572.48. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,229,254.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.