Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) EVP Joakim Weidemanis Sells 22,433 Shares

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,644,589.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $246.45 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $182.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.77, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $248.87 and its 200 day moving average is $231.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Danaher

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 733.3% in the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

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.