Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,567 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 2,725 shares during the period. Danaher makes up about 2.3% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $27,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Connolly Sarah T. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.4% in the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $389,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. Bank of America raised their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 84,132 shares of company stock worth $21,022,795. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.8 %

DHR traded down $4.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $245.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,943,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,786,286. 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 firm has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.44, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $249.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $230.78. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 16.78%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

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.