State of Tennessee Treasury Department Boosts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

State of Tennessee Treasury Department boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 296,875 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department’s holdings in Danaher were worth $68,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 1.8 %

DHR traded down $4.90 on Friday, reaching $263.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,626,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,631,043. The stock has a market cap of $194.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.02 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $269.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $251.96 and its 200 day moving average is $242.92.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.36 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays upped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock 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 set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total value of $11,735,699.85. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at $7,441,441.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.