Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. Invests $621,000 in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,706 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $621,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of DHR stock traded down $5.40 on Friday, hitting $189.42. The stock had a trading volume of 4,535,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,411,207. The business has a 50 day moving average of $198.39 and a 200 day moving average of $219.00. The stock has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 12-month low of $171.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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.