The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 85,010 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,945,109 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,010 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.27% of Danaher worth $446,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $135,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $257,000. NZS Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. NZS Capital LLC now owns 338,173 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $77,628,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares in the last quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 6,645 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 5,029 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $197.37 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $200.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.98. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.25 billion, a PE ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $264.40.

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.