3,354 Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Purchased by Banco BTG Pactual S.A.

Banco BTG Pactual S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,354 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. FMR LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after acquiring an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 29,287.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

DHR stock opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $151.78 billion, a PE ratio of 40.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $216.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.75. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

About Danaher

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.