Cercano Management LLC Has $46.86 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Cercano Management LLC boosted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 1.5% of Cercano Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Cercano Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $46,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 540.0% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $246.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,710,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $248.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.79, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.64.

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.