Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Increases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,562 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 695 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 1.4% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $21,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 538,354 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $124,543,000 after purchasing an additional 30,588 shares during the period. Georgetown University boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 73.4% during the fourth quarter. Georgetown University now owns 36,738 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,499,000 after purchasing an additional 15,548 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,628,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during 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 period. Finally, Oracle Alpha Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $315.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.12.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded up $3.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $269.78. 100,620 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,718,491. The company has a market cap of $194.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.33, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $270.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 19.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.