Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Acquired by Financial Security Advisor Inc.

Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.6% in the first quarter. Dash Acquisitions Inc. now owns 62,778 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,028,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 1,888 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.0% in the first quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 13,461 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 8.6% during the first quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 14,052 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 49.6% during the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 909,707 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $227,172,000 after purchasing an additional 301,512 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $4.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $240.41. The stock had a trading volume of 5,062,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,876,110. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $269.11. The company has a market cap of $178.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $256.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $246.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted 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 business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at $7,441,441.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.67.

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.