Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Raised by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,876 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 615 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.9% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,787 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,053,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 11.1% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 900 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Danaher by 10.0% during the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,951 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,048,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.4% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 12,459 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,464,000 after buying an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Seven research 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, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.1 %

Danaher stock opened at $212.35 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.82. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $151.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly 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 in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.