Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,704,085 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $391,172,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Danaher at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $210.97 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $223.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.63. The company has a market capitalization of $150.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.