Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by PYA Waltman Capital LLC

PYA Waltman Capital LLC raised its position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 25.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,986 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 8,737 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for approximately 2.8% of PYA Waltman Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. PYA Waltman Capital LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $8,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,783,485 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,800,614,000 after purchasing an additional 194,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after purchasing an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $248.43.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $0.71 during trading on Friday, hitting $204.80. 2,369,010 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,504,283. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $206.47. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.77, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman directly owned 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. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Danaher

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.