Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Purchases 694 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,694 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 694 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $205.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $147.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $214.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $236.64.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 firm earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently 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.