Delta Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,621 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 4,621 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,061,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $209.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $226.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

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.