First Merchants Corp Sells 1,303 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Merchants Corp lessened its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,289 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,303 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after buying an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after acquiring an additional 397,671 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

Danaher stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $230.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $147.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher 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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. TD Cowen increased their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective 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. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.