Syon Capital LLC Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 54.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,960 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,460 shares during the quarter. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 540.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded down $4.61 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $245.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,854,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,776. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $249.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 16.78%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $270.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.