SageView Advisory Group LLC Buys 1,871 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 78.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,271 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 1,871 shares during the quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $980,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its position in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted 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. Finally, Spinnaker Trust raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $3.95 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $186.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,667,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,325,342. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.23.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Barclays upgraded Danaher from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $274.55.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.