Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Makes New $2.58 Million Investment in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,567 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $2,577,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 80.8% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 30,214 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,194,000 after acquiring an additional 13,501 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Danaher by 1.8% in the first quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 434,608 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $89,095,000 after buying an additional 7,756 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 7,343 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,505,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.1% during the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 7,349 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,373,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $202,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of DHR traded down $2.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $204.24. 5,692,474 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,032,979. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $146.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.46, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.24. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS 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 business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Danaher's payout ratio is 27.23%.

Insider Activity

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 shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on DHR. HSBC lowered their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Argus decreased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $247.61.

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.