Empire Life Investments Inc. Has $17.83 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Empire Life Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 77,686 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 14,897 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $206.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.26 billion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $230.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.96. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen raised their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.