Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Raised by Rakuten Securities Inc.

Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 380.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $39,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $205.24 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $221.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $241.48. The stock has a market cap of $146.69 billion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.