Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 1.85% of Danaher worth $3,056,996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. 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 note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned 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 $278.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $205.01 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $213.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $235.91. The stock has a market cap of $146.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced 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 previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. 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 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.