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

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,321 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Everhart Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $327,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,117 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 242,244 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $60,101,000 after acquiring an additional 18,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Merchants Corp grew its holdings in Danaher by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 38,679 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,596,000 after acquiring an additional 2,807 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $248.38 on Monday. 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 Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $248.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $232.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.10, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.36 earnings per share. On average, research 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.31.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 107,273 shares of company stock valued at $26,813,819. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher 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.