Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 32.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,566,658 shares during the period. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Danaher were worth $1,460,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after purchasing an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

DHR stock opened at $186.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $201.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $227.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $274.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.