Bank of New York Mellon Corp Buys 441,012 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 441,012 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 1.19% of Danaher worth $1,971,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of DHR traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $210.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,209,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,601,019. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $150.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average of $225.79 and a 200 day moving average of $246.04.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. 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 0.61%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.