GW&K Investment Management LLC Buys 46,581 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

GW&K Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 18,124.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 46,838 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,581 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $10,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 172,540 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,481 in the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird boosted 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. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

DHR opened at $267.33 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $198.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $268.98. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $249.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.