Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 21.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,510 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Certuity LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 17,698 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,063,000 after buying an additional 878 shares in the last quarter. David Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $6,930,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,548 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,884,000 after buying an additional 1,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $652,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

Danaher stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. 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 market capitalization of $147.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $230.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.28.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

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.