Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Takes Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 300 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $69,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

DHR stock opened at $205.24 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.69 billion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.48.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

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.