Sone Capital Management LLC Buys New Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sone Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 50,636 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $11,623,000. Danaher accounts for about 1.5% of Sone Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after acquiring an additional 992,594 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 2.7%

NYSE:DHR opened at $196.03 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $140.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $196.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.27.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.40.

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.