Wendell David Associates Inc. Has $15.40 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wendell David Associates Inc. lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,078 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,285 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up 1.5% of Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Wendell David Associates Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $15,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 184,484 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $42,349,000 after acquiring an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,521 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,022,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Albion Financial Group UT boosted its position in Danaher by 360.7% during the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 1,290 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 59.4% in the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,958 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,102 shares during the period. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 60,178 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,814,000 after buying an additional 4,150 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.55.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $244.19 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.38 billion, a PE ratio of 46.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $225.42 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $234.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $253.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.