Merit Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Merit Financial Group LLC trimmed its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 75.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,726 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,292 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,227,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $977,900,000 after purchasing an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Raymond James raised their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $248.85 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market cap of $184.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.18, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $248.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $233.19.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $25,997,094. 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.