1,273 Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Purchased by Versor Investments LP

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,273 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $205.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $146.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a PEG 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. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $244.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly 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 in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.