Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes $101,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $101,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its position in Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday. Citigroup reduced their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $211.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $238.68. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-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 firm has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a PE ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

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.