Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 26,982 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 882,312 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 26,982 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.12% of Danaher worth $202,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised 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 worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $228,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 1,646 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 212.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,753 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 12.6% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 8,932 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,483,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $4.43 during trading on Friday, hitting $205.69. 2,388,883 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,186,485. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $214.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $236.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released 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 last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS 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 issued a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.24.

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.