Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,661 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 8,178 shares during the quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $15,190,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 10,032 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares during the last quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 47,915 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 78,520 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $19,481,000 after acquiring an additional 10,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 1,714 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of DHR stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $246.93. 2,310,078 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,779,894. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company's 50-day moving average price is $248.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $231.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher's payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $269.64.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction 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 company'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 value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of 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 company'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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company's stock.

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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