Anchor Investment Management LLC Sells 1,084 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Anchor Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,955 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,084 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 8,482 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,947,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 25,112 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,764,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $654,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $12,472,000. Finally, Defined Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % 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 insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $189.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.97, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $202.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $228.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.