Norinchukin Bank The Raises Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Norinchukin Bank The lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 30,045 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 3,002 shares during the period. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in Danaher were worth $6,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 price objective on Danaher in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.55.

Danaher Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $227.23. 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 $133.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.