Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,282 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 141 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $414,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,679,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 5.3% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,948 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,600,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $274.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $186.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $201.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.23. The company has a market cap of $133.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s 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.