Natural Investments LLC Purchases New Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Natural Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $998,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $206.01 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.24 billion, a PE ratio of 39.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $221.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $241.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.