Axiom Investors LLC DE Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 24.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 716,576 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 140,191 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for about 1.2% of Axiom Investors LLC DE's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned 0.10% of Danaher worth $164,490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $712,842,000 after buying an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $135,189,000 after acquiring an additional 586,925 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Down 5.0 %

Shares of DHR traded down $9.97 on Friday, hitting $187.93. 2,243,743 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,297,522. The company has a market capitalization of $134.32 billion, a PE ratio of 35.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $186.12 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $211.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $234.92.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.