LPL Financial LLC Buys 10,507 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Danaher Corporation by 2.6%, owning approximately 412,751 shares valued at $84.6 million by the end of the first quarter.
• Danaher reported a net margin of 14.21% and revenue of $5.94 billion for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• The company's stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target averaging $247.61.

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 412,751 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 10,507 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.06% of Danaher worth $84,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $44,241,000 after buying an additional 35,730 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 14.9% in the fourth quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 403,210 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $92,557,000 after buying an additional 52,300 shares during the last quarter. RFG Bristol Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,143,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,679,156 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $844,550,000 after buying an additional 96,174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bryce Point Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $491,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded down $6.55 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $197.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,060,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,142,449. The business's 50-day moving average price is $197.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $203.25. Danaher Corporation has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $141.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. Danaher's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $247.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.