Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,137 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 188 shares during the quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 113,056 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,837 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. TIAA Trust National Association raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 28.3% in the fourth quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 101,121 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $23,212,000 after buying an additional 22,326 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 864 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

Danaher stock opened at $205.69 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $214.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $236.90. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $147.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. 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 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.