Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 17,852 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 33.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,881 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 17,852 shares during the quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $13,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,853,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $74,551,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $343,000. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $44,241,000 after purchasing an additional 35,730 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Down 2.2%

DHR stock traded down $4.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $200.51. 3,391,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,490,806. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $143.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $192.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $211.00. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five equities 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $248.17.

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.