MQS Management LLC Buys New Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 923 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, SVB Leerink lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 19,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total value of $4,866,675.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,578,725. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 19,085 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.00, for a total transaction of $4,866,675.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,578,725. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 75,175 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,154. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 1.6 %

DHR stock traded up $4.33 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $270.09. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,179,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,922,821. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $254.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $276.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.78, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.90% and a net margin of 16.94%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

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.