Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. Boosts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 36.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,359 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Choreo LLC raised its position in Danaher by 174.8% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,284 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Danaher by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,386 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,830 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 164.3% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 19,152 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,431,000 after acquiring an additional 11,906 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $246.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $248.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $231.53. The company has a market capitalization of $182.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.