Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,249 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 716 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in 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 valued at $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Danaher by 9.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $1,752,382,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,620,170 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,531,510,000 after buying an additional 395,498 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded up $0.63 during trading on Friday, reaching $252.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 769,186 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,818,771. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $255.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $246.19. The company has a market capitalization of $186.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DHR. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total value of $11,735,699.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher 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.