Chicago Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,388,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 3.9 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $214.09 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $235.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $253.09. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $214.03 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $154.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.