Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 279,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $64,159,000.
Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised 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. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $278.00.
View Our Latest Research Report on DHR
In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
DHR opened at $205.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $221.06 and a 200-day moving average of $241.48. The company has a market capitalization of $146.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a PEG 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, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change 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 24.24%.
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.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected].
Before you consider Danaher, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Danaher wasn't on the list.
While Danaher currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.