Westpac Banking Corp Lowers Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 56.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,324 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,663 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Biltmore Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 1,901 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. Cynosure Group LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 449.5% during the 4th quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 9,512 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 7,781 shares during the last quarter. Bryce Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $491,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Danaher by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,679,156 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $844,550,000 after buying an additional 96,174 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $173.45. The stock had a trading volume of 1,564,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,257,806. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $206.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.95. The stock has a market cap of $123.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.30 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Danaher 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.