Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,678 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,193 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of DHR opened at $212.78 on Tuesday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $219.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.07. The firm has a market cap of $152.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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