Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Tufton Capital Management

Tufton Capital Management lifted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 24.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,614 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,455,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $2.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $237.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,711,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,692,046. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.86. The company has a market capitalization of $175.58 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.27.

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.