Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC Has $3.94 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,221 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,443 shares during the quarter. Blue Zone Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after purchasing an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after purchasing an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on DHR shares. HSBC dropped their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 2.1%

DHR opened at $196.13 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Danaher Company 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.