Tandem Investment Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 3,015 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Tandem Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,015 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after purchasing an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $180.71 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.92 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $208.60 and a 200 day moving average of $233.05. The company has a market capitalization of $129.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher 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.