Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Holdings Boosted by Flossbach Von Storch AG

Flossbach Von Storch AG raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 82,672 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 4.9% of Flossbach Von Storch AG’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Flossbach Von Storch AG’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,064,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Drive Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its stake in Danaher by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust boosted its position in Danaher by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Connolly Sarah T. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,364,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 over the last ninety days. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded down $0.95 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $239.39. The company had a trading volume of 2,931,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,707,478. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $249.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $177.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

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.