Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by NFP Retirement Inc.

NFP Retirement Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 938 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the quarter. NFP Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $414,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Danaher by 3.8% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 82,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $22,841,000 after purchasing an additional 3,023 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.3% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,948 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,600,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upgraded Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.57.

Danaher Stock Up 4.4 %

Danaher stock opened at $188.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.