Associated Banc Corp Has $16.12 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Associated Banc Corp lowered its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 70,234 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,850 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $16,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after acquiring an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $933,524,000 after acquiring an additional 135,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $211.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $220.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $240.82. 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 one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.