Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 1,321 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,260 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Danaher by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth $676,545,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Danaher by 214.4% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 3,073,661 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $711,051,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $272.63 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $201.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.05 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,435,240. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Friday, September 6th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Leerink Partners increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

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.