First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,854 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 4,519 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Danaher were worth $8,689,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Danaher Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $2.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $199.15. The company had a trading volume of 3,159,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,373,353. The company has a 50 day moving average of $199.78 and a 200 day moving average of $221.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost 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 presently 24.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.40.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.