NorthRock Partners LLC Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 129.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,323 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,700 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 265.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,295,000 after purchasing an additional 4,097 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,778 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $246,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,990 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,605,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 26,793 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,150,000 after acquiring an additional 3,540 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 4.2%

DHR stock opened at $188.32 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $134.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $197.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.