Harrington Investments INC Buys 99 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Harrington Investments INC lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,151 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 99 shares during the quarter. Harrington Investments INC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its stake in Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $211.09 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $240.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.98, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. 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 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.