FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Raises Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,090 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,068,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horizon Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 20,400.0% in the first quarter. Horizon Financial Services LLC now owns 8,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,681,000 after buying an additional 8,160 shares in the last quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $539,000. Vision Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $461,000. Eos Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 55.8% during the first quarter. Eos Management L.P. now owns 40,567 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,316,000 after purchasing an additional 14,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 17.4% during the first quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 39,764 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,152,000 after purchasing an additional 5,891 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DHR. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Argus decreased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.48.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade 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.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $4.81 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $189.98. The stock had a trading volume of 4,239,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,521,325. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $205.20. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 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.