Blue Whale Capital LLP Has $75.69 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Whale Capital LLP raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 27.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,746 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 70,280 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises approximately 5.6% of Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Blue Whale Capital LLP's holdings in Danaher were worth $75,693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 319,502 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $73,342,000 after acquiring an additional 7,695 shares in the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $918,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $55,161,000. Trek Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Trek Financial LLC now owns 4,321 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $992,000 after purchasing an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 85,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $19,627,000 after buying an additional 18,500 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $276.57.

Danaher Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $7.99 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $188.75. The company had a trading volume of 4,764,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,316,814. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's 50 day moving average is $203.71 and its 200-day moving average is $229.91. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.