Carderock Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Carderock Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,683 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,595 shares during the period. Carderock Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock traded down $3.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $238.41. The stock had a trading volume of 3,044,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,640,177. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $222.53 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's fifty day moving average is $234.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $253.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher's payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.