SVB Wealth LLC Buys New Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 48,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $11,202,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $224.58 and its 200 day moving average is $245.09. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. 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 (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 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is an increase 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 is presently 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.