Russell Investments Group Ltd. Buys 104,627 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 968,947 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 104,627 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.13% of Danaher worth $224,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 540.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 16.2% in the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,118 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO boosted its stake in Danaher by 0.4% in the third quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 12,904 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,201,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 6.6% in the third quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 906 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 20.1% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,396 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,076 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $246.58. The stock had a trading volume of 2,710,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.08. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The firm has a market cap of $182.64 billion, a PE ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on DHR. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.