Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 76,215 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 15,085 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 3.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch SE increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch SE now owns 3,710,738 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $851,800,000 after buying an additional 44,490 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $209.86 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $226.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.83. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price target 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 reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher 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 the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.