Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Purchases 907 Shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,545 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,722,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,983 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $914,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 8,287 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,902,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,343 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $197.08 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $202.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $141.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.93, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.73. Danaher Corporation has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $279.90.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.23%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $220.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $226.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.61.

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.