Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Arete Wealth Advisors LLC

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,681 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 20.3% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,005 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted its stake in Danaher by 3.5% in the third quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 33,260 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,247,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $10,481,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $181.42 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $181.20 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $209.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $234.26. The stock has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s 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.