Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 133.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Danaher comprises about 0.4% of Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America raised Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of DHR stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $205.92. The company had a trading volume of 5,652,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,574,834. The company has a market cap of $147.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.