Empirical Finance LLC Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 22,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 297 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $206.92 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. The company has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $232.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.79. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $205.79 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

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.