MWA Asset Management Purchases 172 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

MWA Asset Management raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,432 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the quarter. MWA Asset Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $329,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $206.92 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $233.38 and a 200 day moving average of $252.10. The company has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $205.79 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.