First Merchants Corp Has $10.36 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Merchants Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,799 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 6,120 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Danaher stock traded up $2.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $244.28. 2,226,011 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,461,988. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market cap of $180.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $249.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.22.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Barclays downgraded Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Company 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.