Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Acquired by OLD Second National Bank of Aurora

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora grew its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,943 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher by 96,490.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% in the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the third quarter worth $178,850,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $1.47 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $237.92. The stock had a trading volume of 1,463,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,689,187. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $249.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $229.86. The company has a market capitalization of $176.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 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.