Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,967 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after buying an additional 7,421 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $8,044,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Down 0.5 %

DHR opened at $209.27 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.57 billion, a PE ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $225.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $245.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS 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 dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Company 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.