Dash Acquisitions Inc. Has $18.33 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 73,950 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 2,419 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 4.1% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $18,328,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $8,044,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DHR. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $209.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,209,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,574,762. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm's 50-day moving average is $227.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $247.52. The company has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Danaher 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.