Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,150 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,519 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $11,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $5,923,000. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.3% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,637 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $455,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,207 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $208.10 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $227.21 and its 200 day moving average is $247.52. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Barclays cut their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

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.