Ledyard National Bank Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ledyard National Bank grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the quarter. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,441,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at $44,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James upped 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. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 in the last ninety days. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $246.03. 799,068 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,747,270. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a market capitalization of $182.23 billion, a PE ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $248.80 and its 200-day moving average is $231.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. 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.