Addison Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Addison Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 619 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 51 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

Danaher stock opened at $210.65 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 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 twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $246.04.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.