Sentry Investment Management LLC Has $609,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,654 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 432 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $211.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.01, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $226.25 and a 200 day moving average of $246.44. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available 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.