Horizon Investments LLC Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Horizon Investments LLC increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 108.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,303 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,021 shares during the period. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $933,524,000 after buying an additional 135,047 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.76.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $212.78 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $219.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $240.07. The company has a market cap of $152.08 billion, a PE ratio of 40.30, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 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.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.