Fiduciary Group LLC Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fiduciary Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 164.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,152 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 11,906 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Danaher by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after purchasing an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares in the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.64.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $246.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,710,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $231.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.