Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Danaher Put Options (NYSE:DHR)

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 10,369 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 101% compared to the average daily volume of 5,151 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total value of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,798.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,783 shares of company stock worth $37,536,717 over the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Danaher by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,533 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 26,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,156,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Cercano Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Cercano Management LLC now owns 202,569 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,862,000 after buying an additional 20,715 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 296,996 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $68,707,000 after buying an additional 96,395 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 3,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $254.85 on Friday. Danaher has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $269.11. The firm has a market cap of $188.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.19, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $253.48 and its 200-day moving average is $244.13.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.36 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $269.29.

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.