Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 7,878 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 308,703 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,878 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Danaher were worth $70,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth $40,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $205.23 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $227.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.80. The company has a market capitalization of $148.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its 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 period last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

About Danaher

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.