US Bancorp DE Has $126.71 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 551,994 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,223 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Danaher were worth $126,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Danaher by 6,862.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 29,287.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $120,718,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. 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. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Danaher stock opened at $207.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.09. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

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.