Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by SFE Investment Counsel

SFE Investment Counsel raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 40.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,670 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,665 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cambridge Trust Co. grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 74,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,221,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 1,559 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $361,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. NBW Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 23,864 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,521,000 after acquiring an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 119,794 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $27,713,000 after acquiring an additional 10,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tufton Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 10,614 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,455,000 after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 1.5 %

DHR traded down $3.61 on Thursday, hitting $235.78. 2,841,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,708,023. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The company has a market cap of $174.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $249.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

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.