GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Purchases New Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,321 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% in the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $735,343,000 after acquiring an additional 642,759 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $172,454.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 107,273 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,819. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $248.38 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $248.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $232.60. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

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.