Clearbridge Investments LLC Purchases 46,110 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 331,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 46,110 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $76,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $266.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $249.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $267.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share 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 net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on DHR. TD Cowen raised 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. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 172,540 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,481 in the last 90 days. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.