ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Invests $4.59 Million in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 20,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $4,591,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DHR shares. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $1.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $209.86. The stock had a trading volume of 6,206,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,512,211. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month 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. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $227.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $247.52. The company has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.