Leavell Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,951 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the first quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $269.24. 1,653,536 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,869,823. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $257.54 and its 200-day moving average is $253.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $199.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $276.88.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Linda Filler sold 3,928 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.50, for a total value of $1,097,876.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,501,145.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,707 shares of company stock valued at $10,786,944 over the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.