Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Increased by Sawgrass Asset Management LLC

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 93.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,719 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 26,001 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for 1.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $12,331,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $202.22 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $231.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $250.62. The company has a market cap of $146.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.45%.

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.