Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. Has $269,000 Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,170 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $269,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock opened at $209.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $149.57 billion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $225.41 and a 200-day moving average of $245.78. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.