Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Boosts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,306,654 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,888 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned about 0.18% of Danaher worth $299,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $8,044,000. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of 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 reissued 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. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $194.86 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $198.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $219.95. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 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 firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate 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.