Wedmont Private Capital Has $1.10 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wedmont Private Capital increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,391 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 561 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,097,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the 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.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $254.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $188.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85. The business’s fifty day moving average is $254.46 and its 200-day moving average is $245.26.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.00, for a total value of $2,386,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,352,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.