German American Bancorp Inc. Has $4.04 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

German American Bancorp Inc. cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,617 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 967 shares during the period. German American Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at $10,481,000. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.9% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 89,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $24,888,000 after purchasing an additional 3,332 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $4,963,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 273,235 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $75,965,000 after purchasing an additional 6,313 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 0.6 %

DHR opened at $180.71 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.92 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average is $208.60 and its 200 day moving average is $233.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its 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 last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

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.