Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Grows Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,119 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $263.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $190.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $136.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.13. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Danaher 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.