Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $90.15 Million in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 392,156 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $90,145,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of Danaher as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DHR. 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 note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

Danaher stock opened at $181.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $181.20 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $209.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $234.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.