Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Grows Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 296,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 17,475 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $60,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $933,524,000 after buying an additional 135,047 shares during the last quarter. Camden National Bank boosted its stake in Danaher by 285.0% in the fourth quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 7,227 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 5,350 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Danaher by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,677,032 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,303,163,000 after acquiring an additional 579,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Terra Alpha Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,068,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $3.38 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $200.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,123,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,479,496. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $143.74 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders 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 0.64%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. 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. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.61.

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.