Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Holdings Boosted by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,956 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Danaher were worth $3,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,005 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.5% in the third quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 33,260 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,247,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,481,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $181.42 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $181.20 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.