Kovack Advisors Inc. Sells 269 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kovack Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,150 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 269 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in Danaher by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $246.82 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $248.80 and its 200 day moving average is $231.53. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.64.

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.