Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Increases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 22.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 35,730 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 1.0% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Danaher were worth $44,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the third quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $205.23. 4,572,680 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,519,168. The company's 50 day moving average price is $228.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.10. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Danaher Company 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.