Knuff & Co LLC Acquires 274 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,297 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the quarter. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,919,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 10,888 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,519,000 after buying an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors grew its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $650,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $248.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,787,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,914,990. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $248.48 and a 200 day moving average of $232.27. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The stock has a market cap of $183.97 billion, a PE ratio of 42.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,273 shares of company stock worth $26,813,819 in the last three months. Company 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.