Alberta Investment Management Corp Purchases New Shares in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Alberta Investment Management Corp invested approximately $5.84 million in Danaher Corporation by acquiring 28,500 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their stakes in Danaher, with MGO One Seven LLC raising its stake by a significant 485.7%.
• Danaher announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 0.6% and a payout ratio of 27.23%.

Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 28,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $5,842,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 396.0% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its position in Danaher by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $0.41 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $197.50. 3,176,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,662,791. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $279.90. The stock has a market cap of $141.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. The firm's 50-day moving average is $197.49 and its 200-day moving average is $202.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.22.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

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.