Ingalls & Snyder LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,216 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 191 shares during the quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7 %

DHR stock opened at $203.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $147.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.55, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $230.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.28.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.