Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,924 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $247.40 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $248.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $232.89. The firm has a market cap of $183.25 billion, a PE ratio of 41.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 accessible through this link. Also, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,433 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.46, for a total transaction of $5,618,569.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 90,412 shares in the company, valued at $22,644,589.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094 in the last ninety days. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.