Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Buys 542 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,002 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the period. Danaher comprises about 1.1% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Danaher Stock Down 1.2 %

DHR stock opened at $201.15 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $199.75 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.29 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $231.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $251.14.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.