Howland Capital Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Howland Capital Management LLC grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 189,929 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 4,491 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises approximately 1.9% of Howland Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Howland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $43,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.00.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of DHR stock traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $202.22. The company had a trading volume of 7,207,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,373,626. The company's fifty day moving average is $231.17 and its 200 day moving average is $250.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $146.06 billion, a PE ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 period last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

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.