GAMMA Investing LLC Buys New Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 1,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $450,000.

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

Danaher Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of DHR stock traded down $2.72 on Wednesday, reaching $250.39. 1,314,251 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,758,515. The stock has a market cap of $185.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $248.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.64. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business 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 is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $269.38.

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.