J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Purchases 446 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 20.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,586 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 446 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $8,044,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $205.23 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $247.80. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average 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.