Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 373,940 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 47,447 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc. owned about 0.05% of Danaher worth $85,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after buying an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after purchasing an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $3.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $189.97. 1,204,904 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,314,524. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.00. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week 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.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays raised Danaher from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

About Danaher

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.