Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. grew its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 68,298 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 475 shares during the quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $15,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth approximately $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Up 1.5 %

DHR opened at $206.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.14, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $249.13.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.