National Bank of Canada FI Increases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 540,184 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 103,083 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Danaher were worth $126,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $1.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $248.38. The company had a trading volume of 1,787,817 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,914,990. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $248.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $232.60. The firm has a market cap of $183.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 107,273 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,819 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.