ADAR1 Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 4,000 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $918,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $181.42 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $165.17 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The business’s fifty day moving average is $209.99 and its 200-day moving average is $233.73. 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 announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

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.