Sapient Capital LLC Takes $438,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,892 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 10,888 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,519,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of DHR opened at $248.38 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $248.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $232.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.