Hickory Point Bank & Trust Takes $235,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,025 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a PE ratio of 39.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $224.58 and a 200 day moving average of $244.92. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.