Xponance Inc. Acquires 8,252 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 94,101 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,252 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $21,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Fairfield Bush & CO. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,468 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 76.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,248,000 after acquiring an additional 3,897 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 135.9% in the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,346,000 after acquiring an additional 20,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $3.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $236.36. The company had a trading volume of 4,235,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,716,425. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $175.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays increased their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

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.