BankPlus Trust Department Acquires New Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 3,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $776,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edge Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 3,707 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $851,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,951 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Danaher by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Waverton Investment Management Ltd now owns 2,454 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $563,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 12,682 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,911,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Finally, World Equity Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 2,726 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on 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, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of DHR opened at $209.86 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $226.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.84. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid 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 yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 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.