Portside Wealth Group LLC Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,004 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $206,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $204.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $191.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.67. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders 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 0.63%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

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.