Tran Capital Management L.P. Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Tran Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 4.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,519 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 8,328 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up 5.3% of Tran Capital Management L.P.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Tran Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $39,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Kentucky Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $230.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $248.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 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. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching $204.85. 3,661,150 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,495,448. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $146.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $191.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $211.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

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.