Financial Security Advisor Inc. Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 214.4% in 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 buying an additional 2,096,038 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.7% in 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 buying an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 worth $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Danaher Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE:DHR traded down $4.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,062,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,876,110. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $256.13 and a 200-day moving average of $246.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.07 billion, a PE ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.