Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Acquires 15,085 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 24.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,215 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,085 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a research report 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $209.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.71 and a 200 day moving average of $247.11. The company has a market cap of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month 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 (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

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.