Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Buys 243,066 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 521.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 289,642 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 243,066 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $66,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $391,172,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,566,658 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on DHR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $1.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $197.57. The stock had a trading volume of 869,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,351,253. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market cap of $141.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $200.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $223.29. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were given a $0.32 dividend. 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%. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

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.