Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Boosts Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 22.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 192,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,730 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 1.0% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Danaher were worth $44,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $206.66 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $230.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.14, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.