Sei Investments Co. Lowers Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sei Investments Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,017,357 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 24,243 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $233,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $211.63 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $217.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher 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.