Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 2,208 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,354 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 2,208 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Danaher were worth $16,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 3,558 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 199,493 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $45,794,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Danaher by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 47,003 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $10,790,000 after purchasing an additional 897 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Private Trust Co. increased its position in Danaher by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 25,937 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $5,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $3.01 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $235.08. 2,863,252 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,866,305. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $222.53 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.86, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. The company's 50-day moving average price is $235.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.88.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $286.80.

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.