Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV Has $9.53 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,507 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 496 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises 1.1% of Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 24,958.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,870,847 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $383,524,000 after buying an additional 1,863,381 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $391,172,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Danaher by 4,248.8% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,639,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $376,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,601,800 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. HSBC cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.24.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $196.13 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $191.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.34. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.36 billion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid 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 presently 24.85%.

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.