Cloud Capital Management LLC Takes $416,000 Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,028 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,800,614,000 after acquiring an additional 194,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Danaher by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3%

DHR stock opened at $203.08 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $195.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $207.23. The company has a market capitalization of $145.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.43, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.61.

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.