OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires New Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,008 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after acquiring an additional 749,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in 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 during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Stock Down 0.1 %

DHR stock opened at $210.14 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $217.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.26.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.