Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Purchases 1,275 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 114,923 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $26,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of DHR opened at $209.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $149.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $245.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly 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 last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.