GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 22.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,126 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 41.3% in the 1st quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,243 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,585,000 after purchasing an additional 7,965 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 12.0% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,719 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,747,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.1% during the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 10,268 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its stake in Danaher by 1.7% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 11,909 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,441,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, 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. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.6%

DHR stock traded down $3.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $198.20. The company had a trading volume of 5,619,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,505,541. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $194.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $208.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.48, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus decreased their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.