Hurley Capital LLC Takes Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $209.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $233.99. The stock has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $181.20 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.