3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,538 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $726,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Danaher by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,821,477,000 after buying an additional 992,594 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Danaher by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $248.61.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 1.6%

DHR stock opened at $198.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $141.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company's 50 day moving average is $194.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.52.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Research analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

About Danaher

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.

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