Banyan Capital Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Banyan Capital Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,574 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,245 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises about 3.6% of Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Banyan Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,890,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Danaher by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 6,381,293 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,476,248,000 after purchasing an additional 454,950 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of DHR opened at $276.43 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $267.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $257.03. The company has a market capitalization of $204.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were 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 $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 over the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Danaher

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.