Kennebec Savings Bank Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kennebec Savings Bank raised its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,052 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $383,524,000 after buying an additional 1,863,381 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4,248.8% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $376,347,000 after buying an additional 1,601,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 2.1%

DHR stock opened at $196.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $140.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.15, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $191.34 and its 200 day moving average is $212.19.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.