Raymond James & Associates Acquires 73,960 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,343,260 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 73,960 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Danaher were worth $335,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $1,752,382,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after buying an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Danaher by 214.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $711,051,000 after buying an additional 2,096,038 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Danaher by 10.7% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:DHR traded up $0.78 on Friday, hitting $246.58. The stock had a trading volume of 2,710,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $248.87 and its 200 day moving average is $231.08. The company 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.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. TD Cowen increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” 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, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total value of $5,618,569.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 90,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,644,589.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,644,589.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 over the last three months. Corporate 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.