Kennedy Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 35,421 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $8,845,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,647 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 180.7% during the fourth quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 24,927 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,767,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Realta Investment Advisors raised its stake in Danaher by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Realta Investment Advisors now owns 3,171 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors lifted its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 26,005 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,016,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of DHR stock traded up $3.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $275.19. The stock had a trading volume of 2,905,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,916,780. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.74 billion, a PE ratio of 46.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $255.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $249.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $277.72.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. SVB Leerink raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Six 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, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,990 shares in the company, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 84,775 shares of company stock worth $21,802,690 in the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.