HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Buys 146 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,066 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 2,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $711,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 204,363 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,780,000 after acquiring an additional 6,086 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $211.09 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $220.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $240.82. 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 stock has a market cap of $150.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.