Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires 5,533 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 165.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 5,533 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,227,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $977,900,000 after purchasing an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.45 on Tuesday, reaching $248.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,683,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,744,101. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.19. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $184.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.18, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays increased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $267.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.