Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 135,047 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $933,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 586,925 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $120,718,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.0 %

DHR opened at $205.60 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $224.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.