Headlands Technologies LLC Purchases New Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,014 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $697,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 540.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $246.58. 2,710,446 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $248.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Citigroup raised their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 in the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.