Cannell & Spears LLC Acquires 148,809 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Cannell & Spears LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 63.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 383,294 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 148,809 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises about 1.8% of Cannell & Spears LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Cannell & Spears LLC owned about 0.05% of Danaher worth $87,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $933,524,000 after acquiring an additional 135,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded up $4.84 on Wednesday, reaching $205.23. 2,973,437 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,193,240. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $146.68 billion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $213.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.39.

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, hitting 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 company posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate 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.