Bamco Inc. NY Acquires 13,575 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bamco Inc. NY boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 37.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 50,090 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,575 shares during the quarter. Bamco Inc. NY’s holdings in Danaher were worth $12,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 4,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Successful Portfolios LLC now owns 1,107 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. DeDora Capital Inc. now owns 2,786 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $454,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.88.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $3.82 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $273.91. 2,810,147 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,314,172. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $255.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.35. The firm has a market cap of $197.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $277.72.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of Danaher 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 sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 84,775 shares of company stock worth $21,802,690. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.