Sig Brokerage LP Acquires New Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sig Brokerage LP acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,454 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was 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

Shares of DHR stock opened at $190.87 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $197.06 and a 200-day moving average of $217.96. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $136.60 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

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