Kestra Advisory Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,474 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,609 shares during the quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $20,097,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 20.2% in the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,533 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Cercano Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after acquiring an additional 20,715 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Danaher by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $68,707,000 after purchasing an additional 96,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donaldson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 5.8% during the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 1,469 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $367,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. SVB Leerink increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the business’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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 84,775 shares of company stock worth $21,802,690. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $3.82 on Friday, reaching $273.91. 2,810,147 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,314,172. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $255.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $277.72. The company has a market cap of $197.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 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.