Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Holdings Boosted by Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,924 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $445,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 27.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $247.40 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $248.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 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 firm has a market cap of $183.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Danaher Company 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.