World Investment Advisors Boosts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,956 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Danaher were worth $3,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

Shares of DHR opened at $181.42 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $181.20 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $209.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $234.26. 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 cap of $129.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 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 0.71%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate 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.