Traynor Capital Management Inc. Cuts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Traynor Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,945 shares during the quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays downgraded Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $215.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.4 %

Danaher stock traded up $0.95 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $249.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,434,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,765,013. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.72 billion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $247.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.02%.

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.