Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,699 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Danaher by 6,862.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $213,452,000 after acquiring an additional 916,513 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 29,287.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $120,718,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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 set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $207.73 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a fifty day moving average of $224.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $244.76. The stock has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.34, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. 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 currently 24.24%.

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.