Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Tufton Capital Management

Tufton Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 34.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,876 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 4,098 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management's holdings in Danaher were worth $3,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on DHR. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $0.23 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $205.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,652,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,574,834. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $224.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $244.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $147.17 billion, a PE ratio of 39.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by 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.