SGL Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

SGL Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,328 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,136 shares during the period. Danaher makes up about 1.6% of SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. SGL Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,059,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sig Brokerage LP purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $334,000. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 116,682 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $26,784,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 72,904 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,735,000 after purchasing an additional 7,711 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $35,815,000. Finally, Redwood Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 29,534 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,780,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 1.6%

DHR opened at $190.87 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $217.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.40.

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.