National Pension Service Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

National Pension Service raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,119,227 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 22,300 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.15% of Danaher worth $258,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Cercano Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $46,862,000 after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after acquiring an additional 96,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $764,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,984 shares of company stock valued at $25,997,094 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $249.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 511,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,705,143. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.19. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

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.