Compass Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 3.6% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $54,615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth approximately $5,923,000. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Danaher by 4.2% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 130,939 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,404,000 after acquiring an additional 5,320 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 33.5% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,480 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the period. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 51.8% during the third quarter. WealthBridge Capital Management LLC now owns 1,465 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 29.6% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on DHR. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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 Danaher 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 3.9 %

DHR opened at $214.09 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $214.03 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $235.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $253.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.55, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

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.