Aquatic Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 151.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 156,617 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 94,317 shares during the period. Danaher comprises 1.0% of Aquatic Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Aquatic Capital Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $35,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its position in shares of Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $2.33 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $197.00. The company had a trading volume of 2,046,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,354,980. The company's 50 day moving average price is $200.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $140.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.40.

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.