Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Buys New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,517 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $348,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $212.36 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $237.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

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.