Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.4% in the first quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 2,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 3,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 2,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 4,329 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,352,350. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total transaction of $2,386,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $248.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.03. The company has a market cap of $184.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $269.11.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

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.