Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Acquires New Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. purchased a new stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,630 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $539,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Down 3.5%

DHR stock traded down $7.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $197.69. The company had a trading volume of 4,921,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,210,283. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $196.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.13. Danaher Corporation has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $141.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.39, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen raised their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.43.

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.