DnB Asset Management AS Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

DnB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 174,467 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 3,566 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Danaher were worth $40,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust grew its position in Danaher by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Danaher Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $210.26 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $215.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $237.37. The company has a market capitalization of $150.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS 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 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.