Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $13.99 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 46.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,925 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,245 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $13,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in 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. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $211.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a PE ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.86. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.