Robeco Schweiz AG Acquires 13,304 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Robeco Schweiz AG increased its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 259,545 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,304 shares during the period. Robeco Schweiz AG’s holdings in Danaher were worth $59,579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $120,718,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,971,609,000 after acquiring an additional 441,012 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $209.27 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $225.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $245.78. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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.