Rockport Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Rockport Wealth LLC bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,065 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $516,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $1,752,382,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Danaher by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after buying an additional 2,998,161 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 214.4% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $711,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value of $1,000,040.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total value 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 $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six 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 stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $268.67.

Danaher Stock Up 5.3 %

NYSE DHR traded up $13.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $264.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,515,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,905,022. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $272.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $254.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $248.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.68 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

Danaher Company 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.