Guinness Asset Management LTD Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 163,336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,431 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Danaher were worth $37,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth about $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $238.41 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $234.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.42. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $222.53 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.50, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup reduced their price target on Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.80.

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.