Stonegate Investment Group LLC Acquires 3,970 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 243,646 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,970 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for 1.9% of Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Stonegate Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $56,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 4,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in Danaher by 19.3% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 2,468 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Danaher by 76.8% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 495 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 31,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,248,000 after acquiring an additional 3,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its position in Danaher by 135.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 35,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,346,000 after buying an additional 20,320 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 over the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.00.

Danaher Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE DHR traded down $1.85 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $245.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,909,232 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,751,940. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $248.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $182.13 billion, a PE ratio of 38.78, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 16.90%.

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.