Blue Trust Inc. Buys 3,037 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 53.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,672 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,037 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,166,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 1,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its stake in Danaher by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Berger Financial Group Inc raised its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Linda Filler sold 3,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $279.50, for a total value of $1,097,876.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,501,145.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Linda Filler sold 3,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.50, for a total value of $1,097,876.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,149 shares in the company, valued at $11,501,145.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,707 shares of company stock worth $10,786,944 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $269.32. 1,746,456 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,862,712. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $257.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.45. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.65, a PEG ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.88.

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.