LPL Financial LLC Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 402,244 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 22,903 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Danaher worth $92,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Guardian Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,220,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,367,000. Umpqua Bank grew its holdings in Danaher by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 1,310 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd raised its position in shares of Danaher by 5,626.7% during the fourth quarter. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd now owns 4,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $986,000 after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plancorp LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 4,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $216.41 and its 200 day moving average is $237.75.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.