Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Acquired by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 684,853 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 8,703 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 2.0% of Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Welch & Forbes LLC owned 0.09% of Danaher worth $157,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE DHR opened at $214.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $222.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $243.43. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $153.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.67, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Company 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.