HUB Investment Partners LLC Buys 2,410 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 241.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,407 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares during the period. HUB Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $210.14 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $217.92 and its 200 day moving average is $239.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $150.19 billion, a PE ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.