Banco Santander S.A. Boosts Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• Banco Santander S.A. increased its stake in Danaher Corporation by 79.5%, owning 15,721 shares valued at approximately $3.22 million as of the latest quarter.
• Danaher recently reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.80, exceeding analysts' expectations of $1.64, with a revenue of $5.94 billion, marking a 3.4% increase year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32, representing an annual dividend yield of 0.6%, with a payout ratio of 27.23%.

Banco Santander S.A. raised its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 79.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,721 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 6,964 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 26.8% during the first quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 94,786 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $19,431,000 after buying an additional 20,039 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3,673.5% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 38,037 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $7,812,000 after purchasing an additional 37,029 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 49.0% in the 1st quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $454,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the first quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 103,564 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $21,231,000 after buying an additional 2,443 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 316.9% during the first quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 20,635 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,230,000 after acquiring an additional 15,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Danaher from $230.00 to $226.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Argus reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America decreased their target price on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $247.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 owned 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $3.31 during trading on Thursday, reaching $198.48. The stock had a trading volume of 2,659,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,295,501. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $198.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $201.81. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $279.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $142.12 billion, a PE ratio of 42.23, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The business's revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.