HTLF Bank Invests $580,000 in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

HTLF Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,509 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $580,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $178,850,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $235.37 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $230.05. The company has a market cap of $174.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 3.59 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. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.