Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Has $24.20 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 105,413 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 2,553 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $24,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $7.99 on Friday, reaching $188.75. 4,764,014 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,319,341. The firm's 50 day moving average is $203.71 and its 200-day moving average is $229.58. The firm has a market cap of $134.90 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Barclays raised shares of Danaher from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $276.57.

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.