Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Purchases 28,307 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,259,946 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 28,307 shares during the period. Danaher makes up about 1.5% of Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich's investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich owned 0.17% of Danaher worth $291,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Banco Santander S.A. bought a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at $683,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,156,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $68,707,000 after purchasing an additional 96,395 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 553,155 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $137,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,567 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 84,132 shares of company stock worth $21,022,795. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $270.00.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $4.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $245.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,943,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,786,286. The stock has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.44, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $230.78. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.48%. Danaher's revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 18.31%.

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.

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