MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 8.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,208 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 8,293 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB's holdings in Danaher were worth $22,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,853,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $74,551,000. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,321 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 3,713 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $852,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,534 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, HSBC cut their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $263.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, 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 company'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 completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of DHR stock traded down $0.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $189.54. 6,514,078 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,485,177. The business's fifty day moving average is $192.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Shareholders 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 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

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.