Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Synovus Financial Corp

Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,207 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 3,361 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp's holdings in Danaher were worth $17,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in 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. Finally, Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.55.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $3.95 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $186.71. The stock had a trading volume of 3,667,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,329,070. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $202.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $227.84. The company has a market cap of $133.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.