Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Altfest L J & Co. Inc.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 33.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $557,074,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

Danaher stock traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $249.56. The company had a trading volume of 920,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,738,226. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $246.68 and its 200-day moving average is $230.40. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. HSBC started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.