Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,679,156 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,174 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $844,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after acquiring an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Danaher by 29,287.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,189,000 after acquiring an additional 586,925 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $200.09 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $213.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.39.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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