Sandhill Capital Partners LLC Has $27.20 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 117,567 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,725 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 2.3% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $27,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 6.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after buying an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 13.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 84,132 shares of company stock valued at $21,022,795. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $4.59 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $245.82. 2,943,521 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,786,286. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The company has a market cap of $182.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.48% and a net margin of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.36 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.