Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,447 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $85,840,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,318 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,019 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.0% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 17,946 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,989,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,563 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $434,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $314,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 $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 available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $192.18 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $204.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $231.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

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.