Sustainable Growth Advisers LP Boosts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,232,010 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 272,323 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for 3.7% of Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $741,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $205.24 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $146.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $221.06 and a 200-day moving average of $241.48.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Danaher

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.