St. Clair Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,493 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $572,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. StockNews.com upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 2.7%

DHR stock opened at $196.03 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.29 billion, a PE ratio of 37.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $196.87 and its 200-day moving average is $217.27. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.85%.

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.