DSG Capital Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

DSG Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,492 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $802,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. HSBC dropped their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $263.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.54. 6,514,078 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,485,177. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company's fifty day moving average price is $193.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.13. The firm has a market cap of $135.65 billion, a PE ratio of 35.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

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.