FAS Wealth Partners Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

FAS Wealth Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 1,639 shares during the quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its holdings in Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $2.44 on Friday, reaching $199.15. 3,159,138 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,373,353. The firm has a market capitalization of $142.53 billion, a PE ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $199.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $221.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

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.