Crewe Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 648 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $162,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $1,752,382,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Danaher by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 214.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.7% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total transaction of $11,735,699.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at $7,441,441.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,175 shares of company stock valued at $19,161,154 in the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Danaher from $297.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.88.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $4.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $270.09. 4,179,004 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,922,821. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $276.31. The stock has a market cap of $200.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $254.99 and its 200 day moving average is $248.82. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.90% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.