Fiduciary Group LLC Has $5.10 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fiduciary Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,223 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,622 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its holdings in Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its position in Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust raised its position in Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.4 %

DHR stock opened at $209.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $218.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $239.46.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 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 quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on DHR. Barclays lowered their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.76.

Danaher Company 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.