Donaldson Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,469 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after buying an additional 96,395 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $137,238,000 after buying an additional 2,567 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $246.58. 2,710,446 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.08. The firm has a market cap of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total value of $5,618,569.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 90,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,644,589.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

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.