Transcend Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,405 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Danaher by 6.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after purchasing an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Danaher by 1.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG lifted its position in Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DHR. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup raised 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. KeyCorp raised 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. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE DHR traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, reaching $246.58. 2,710,446 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market cap of $182.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $231.16. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results 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 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 revenue for the quarter 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 forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.