Clarity Financial LLC Makes New $232,000 Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Clarity Financial LLC bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 930 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd 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. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in Danaher by 214.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $711,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,038 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,352,350. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717 in the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup increased their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.29.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $252.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $255.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $246.14.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results 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 business 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

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.