W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,915 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 169 shares during the quarter. W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,062 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,865,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 23.6% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 540,184 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $126,008,000 after acquiring an additional 103,083 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $445,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, AJOVista LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $187,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $248.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,787,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,914,990. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $248.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $232.60. The company has a market cap of $183.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.