Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 59,875 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 9,851 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $13,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 540.0% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded up $1.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $247.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,583,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,770,903. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $248.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $230.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.36 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,132 shares of company stock valued at $21,022,795 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.