First Horizon Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,333 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter worth $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE DHR opened at $234.76 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $258.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.96. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $215.68 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $169.56 billion, a PE ratio of 44.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.16.

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.