Bank of Nova Scotia Acquires 278,975 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 127.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 497,109 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 278,975 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned 0.07% of Danaher worth $114,140,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $10,481,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 89,520 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $24,888,000 after acquiring an additional 3,332 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $4,963,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 273,235 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $75,965,000 after acquiring an additional 6,313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 4.4 %

NYSE DHR traded up $7.99 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $188.75. The stock had a trading volume of 4,764,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,319,341. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $203.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $134.90 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 positive change 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 payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.