PFC Capital Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

PFC Capital Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,262 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the quarter. PFC Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $748,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 24.7% during the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 1,542 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $429,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 466.1% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,965 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,048,000 after acquiring an additional 9,028 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,988,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $50,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $205.01 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $213.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $235.91.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 posted $2.09 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.