Scotia Capital Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Scotia Capital Inc. increased its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 12.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 420,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,371 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $86,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at $164,000. Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at $3,494,000. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.2% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 42,545 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,722,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 488.9% in the first quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 2,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 79.5% in the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 15,721 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,223,000 after acquiring an additional 6,964 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group cut their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Argus cut their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $197.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $197.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.44. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $279.90. The firm has a market cap of $141.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.