Horizon Financial Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Horizon Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 20,400.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,200 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 8,160 shares during the period. Horizon Financial Services LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher 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 sale, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% 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 Up 0.3%

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $0.58 on Thursday, hitting $203.08. The company had a trading volume of 1,390,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,501,434. Danaher Corporation has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $195.52 and a 200-day moving average of $207.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $225.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.61.

Danaher 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.