Waverton Investment Management Ltd Purchases 158 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Waverton Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,454 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Waverton Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

DHR stock opened at $209.86 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $226.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $246.84. The company has a market cap of $149.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Company 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.