Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Buys 243,066 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 521.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 289,642 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 243,066 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $66,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR traded down $1.13 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $196.01. 2,715,127 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,352,419. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $200.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $223.98.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Danaher Company 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.