Swiss National Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation $DHR

Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 5.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,865,708 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 99,700 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.26% of Danaher worth $353,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $230.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Danaher from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.64.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $203.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $198.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market cap of $144.14 billion, a PE ratio of 39.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.79. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $160.93 and a 1-year high of $242.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The conglomerate reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. Danaher had a net margin of 14.89% and a return on equity of 10.91%. The business had revenue of $5.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 8.45 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.