Blue Trust Inc. Increases Stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 15.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,831 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,220,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV boosted its position in Danaher by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Townsend Asset Management Corp NC ADV now owns 22,916 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI raised its position in shares of Danaher by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Norris Perne & French LLP MI now owns 132,420 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $27,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,064 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.0% in the first quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 15,256 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,128,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $832,000. Finally, DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc now owns 8,522 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,747,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five investment 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 an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.17.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $194.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $139.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Corporation has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $193.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $210.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.

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