Guardian Partners Inc. Makes New $4.22 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $4,220,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $211.63 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $217.46 and a 200-day moving average of $238.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 period last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

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.