CoreFirst Bank & Trust Buys New Shares in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,014 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $212.97 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.21 billion, a PE ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.92 and a 200-day moving average of $238.13. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% 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.