LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,699 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $135,189,000 after buying an additional 586,925 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $120,718,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.8 %

DHR stock traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $207.62. The stock had a trading volume of 341,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,470,616. The business has a 50-day moving average of $223.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $243.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $148.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.