Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 24,277 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,573,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $206.92 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $233.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $252.10. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $205.79 and a 1 year 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 the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other 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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, 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 this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.