Field & Main Bank Boosts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Field & Main Bank increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 393.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 740 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 590 shares during the period. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $171,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of DHR traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $245.50. The stock had a trading volume of 952,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,747,992. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market cap of $181.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.53. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on DHR. Citigroup boosted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.