Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 1,837 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Financial Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 113,056 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,837 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $25,952,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $348,000. TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in Danaher by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 101,121 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $23,212,000 after acquiring an additional 22,326 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 864 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $202,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $250,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares during the period. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $692,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank started 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. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $216.41 and a 200 day moving average of $237.75. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

About Danaher

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.