Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,846 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,900,685 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,243,696,000 after purchasing an additional 126,062 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $2,057,164,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 12.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,440,410 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,875,281,000 after buying an additional 812,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,852,751 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,321,312,000 after buying an additional 375,805 shares during the period. 76.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $292.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Bank of America upped their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $240.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $289.79.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos sold 590 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.54, for a total transaction of $147,818.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,939 shares in the company, valued at $1,738,497.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 22,439 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $263.42, for a total transaction of $5,910,881.38. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,362,456.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jose-Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos sold 590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.54, for a total transaction of $147,818.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,738,497.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,922 shares of company stock valued at $12,552,233. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $253.53. The company had a trading volume of 340,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,862,623. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $253.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $245.09. The company has a market capitalization of $187.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.70. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $221.22 and a 1 year high of $283.63.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The conglomerate reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.01 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $7.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.12 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 15.03% and a net margin of 20.95%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.76 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 8.84 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 12th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.68%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.