DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc Has $1.75 Million Position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)

DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc increased its holdings in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,522 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises 1.7% of DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,747,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863,381 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,601,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Bank of America cut their price objective on Danaher from $265.00 to $230.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Argus reduced their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Danaher Trading Down 0.7%

Danaher stock opened at $194.36 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $139.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.74, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.77. Danaher Corporation has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $193.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $210.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.66%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.