Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stake Boosted by Dnca Finance

Dnca Finance boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,600 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 1.1% of Dnca Finance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Dnca Finance’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after buying an additional 749,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $135,189,000 after buying an additional 586,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. 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 report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $274.55.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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 owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $201.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $227.23. The company has a market cap of $133.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.