Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,749 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,186,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in Danaher by 98.1% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,175 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in shares of Danaher by 30.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 21,743 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,394,000 after purchasing an additional 5,060 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 328.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 25,076 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,221,000 after buying an additional 19,217 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 108.6% during the third quarter. Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank now owns 3,140 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the 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 owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was 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 owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,783 shares of company stock valued at $37,536,717. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten 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 a consensus price target of $269.29.

Danaher Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $1.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $249.85. 4,638,276 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,371,169. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.35, a PEG ratio of 3.85 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’s 50-day moving average is $255.96 and its 200-day moving average is $246.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. 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. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. 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.