Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Has $448,000 Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 46.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,830 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,189,000 after buying an additional 586,925 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Danaher by 17.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $120,718,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $205.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $146.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $224.11 and its 200 day moving average is $244.31. 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 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders 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 is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.