Essex Financial Services Inc. Reduces Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Essex Financial Services Inc. decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,054 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 116 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth about $217,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Danaher by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $201.15 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $145.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.14. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $199.75 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.