West Family Investments Inc. Has $411,000 Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,790 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $411,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of DHR stock opened at $214.76 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $222.89 and a 200-day moving average of $243.43. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $153.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.