Stokes Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Stokes Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,006 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,593 shares during the quarter. Stokes Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 29.9% during the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 6,389 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after buying an additional 1,470 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 10,260 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 1,321 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $240,000. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 10.8% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,619 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.2% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on Danaher from $305.00 to $285.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.80.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $238.41 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $234.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $253.42. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $222.53 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.