Mechanics Bank Trust Department Acquires 1,193 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,186 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,924,000 after buying an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee boosted its position in Danaher by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Hall Laurie J Trustee now owns 21,669 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,974,000 after buying an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 5,250 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. Renaissance Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Investment Group LLC now owns 50,454 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,582,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 4,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,128,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $238.41 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $222.53 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $253.42.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.80.

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.