Guardian Capital LP Acquires 1,350 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Guardian Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,552 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the quarter. Guardian Capital LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 1.7 %

DHR stock opened at $199.17 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $200.51 and a 200-day moving average of $223.29. The company has a market cap of $142.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $264.40.

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.