Ballast Inc. Boosts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ballast Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,431 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,025,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its stake in Danaher by 10.9% during the first quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its stake in Danaher by 19.3% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,468 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 76.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 3,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its stake in Danaher by 135.9% during the first quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,346,000 after purchasing an additional 20,320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. TheStreet upgraded Danaher from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, December 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.00.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $249.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $247.17 and a 200-day moving average of $230.53. The company has a market cap of $184.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.08, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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 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.