Tufton Capital Management Has $5.97 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Tufton Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 83.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,112 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 13,236 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management's holdings in Danaher were worth $5,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,056,996,000 after purchasing an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,800,614,000 after purchasing an additional 194,466 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Danaher by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,821,477,000 after purchasing an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Danaher by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.61.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $2.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $205.60. The stock had a trading volume of 5,355,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,965,185. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $196.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $203.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were 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 presently 27.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company'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 directly owned 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.