Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 500,750 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,913 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.07% of Danaher worth $114,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $210.15 on Thursday. 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 market cap of $150.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $215.86 and a 200-day moving average of $237.56.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.