Advisory Resource Group Boosts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Advisory Resource Group increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR – Get Rating) by 21.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,337 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 240 shares during the quarter. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Danaher were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 3.1% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 45,621,495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,889,008,000 after buying an additional 1,360,659 shares during the last quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 31.6% in the third quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 4,923,603 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,498,942,000 after buying an additional 1,181,343 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $336,954,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Danaher by 4.6% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 14,362,364 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,372,479,000 after buying an additional 635,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $190,087,000. Institutional investors own 82.84% of the company’s stock.

Danaher stock traded down $5.87 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $251.13. The company had a trading volume of 3,225,216 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,868,812. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $238.32 and a 12-month high of $333.96. The company’s fifty day moving average is $277.46 and its 200-day moving average is $293.71. The company has a market capitalization of $182.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 21st. The conglomerate reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.10. Danaher had a return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 21.32%. The business had revenue of $7.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 10.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 25th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 11.57%.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price target on Danaher from $355.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, April 22nd. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $278.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $311.00 to $299.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $331.14.

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,365 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.99, for a total transaction of $1,577,256.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 6,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.74, for a total value of $1,662,310.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 86,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,095,424.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,373 shares of company stock worth $9,089,268 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.20% of the company’s stock.

About Danaher (Get Rating)

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions. The Life Sciences segment provides mass spectrometers; flow cytometry, genomics, lab automation, centrifugation, particle counting and characterization; microscopes; genomics consumables; and Gene and Cell Therapy.

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