First Merchants Corp Cuts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Merchants Corp decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,289 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,303 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Danaher were worth $9,478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,923,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its position in Danaher by 5.5% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,908 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in Danaher by 3.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 126,340 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $35,125,000 after buying an additional 3,749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magnus Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.0 %

DHR traded down $2.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $204.22. The company had a trading volume of 5,587,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,517,413. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $147.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $228.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.61.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

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.