First Citizens Financial Corp Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Citizens Financial Corp cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,458 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 129 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Danaher by 2.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $4.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $234.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 731,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,700,646. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $222.53 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $236.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $254.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market capitalization of $169.12 billion, a PE ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.05.

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.