Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Shares Acquired by Riverwater Partners LLC

Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 41.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,292 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Riverwater Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $880,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,853,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $74,551,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,241,000 after buying an additional 35,730 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 2,586 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $594,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Danaher Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $194.36 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a PE ratio of 37.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Corporation has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $193.74 and a 200 day moving average of $210.00.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

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.