Utah Retirement Systems Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Utah Retirement Systems raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 107,121 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Utah Retirement Systems’ holdings in Danaher were worth $24,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $199.17 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $142.54 billion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $200.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.29. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

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. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently 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.