First Financial Bankshares Inc Invests $9.42 Million in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Financial Bankshares Inc purchased a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 40,713 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $9,419,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. L1 Capital International Pty Ltd bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,627,000. Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 36,300 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,398,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Greystone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,864,000. Finally, Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. now owns 15,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,506,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 in the last quarter. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $3.13 on Tuesday, hitting $261.54. 2,347,545 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,734,888. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.72 billion, a PE ratio of 44.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $269.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $252.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.38.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on DHR. Citigroup increased their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.29.

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.