Smith Salley Wealth Management Lowers Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Smith Salley Wealth Management lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 45 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Danaher by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,172,000 after buying an additional 15,313 shares during the period. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $132,524,000 after acquiring an additional 55,908 shares during the period. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $2,614,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $2.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $269.31. The stock had a trading volume of 4,595,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,803,002. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $259.76 and a 200 day moving average of $254.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a market cap of $199.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

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.