Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 2,156 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,841 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,156 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $238.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $222.53 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $234.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.50.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.80.

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.