Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 3,020 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 64.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,686 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,020 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after acquiring an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after acquiring an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,064,477,000 after acquiring an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,009,880,000 after acquiring an additional 473,693 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares in the company, valued at $22,644,589.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 over the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $246.58. 2,710,446 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $248.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $231.08. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio 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.