Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Acquired by Stewart & Patten Co. LLC

Stewart & Patten Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,419 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the quarter. Stewart & Patten Co. LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $354,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during 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 buying an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of Danaher by 214.4% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $711,051,000 after buying an additional 2,096,038 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR traded down $5.34 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $244.51. The stock had a trading volume of 3,887,911 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,576. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $269.11. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $255.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.75. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $181.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.44, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

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.