South Dakota Investment Council Boosts Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 26.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,982 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council's holdings in Danaher were worth $3,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.1% during the first quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 10,090 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the first quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,746 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.6% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 50,365 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $10,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,215 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter valued at approximately $305,000. Finally, Lipe & Dalton increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the first quarter. Lipe & Dalton now owns 21,723 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,453,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $189.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.96 billion, a PE ratio of 36.89, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $196.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.05 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $248.48.

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.

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