Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Sawgrass Asset Management LLC

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 22.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 65,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,924 shares during the period. Danaher comprises about 1.7% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $13,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC now owns 29,855 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,853,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $74,551,000. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its position in Danaher by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 192,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,241,000 after purchasing an additional 35,730 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $120,718,000. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 31,595 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,253,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $210.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.17.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $196.23 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $193.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.43. Danaher Corporation has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $140.43 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.81% and a return on equity of 10.80%. Research analysts expect that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

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.