Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $391.17 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,704,085 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $391,172,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its stake in Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $8,044,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $210.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $223.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $243.63. 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 company has a market cap of $150.78 billion, a PE ratio of 39.96, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year 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 (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio 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.