Pennington Partners & CO. LLC Buys New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,854 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $656,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $139,000. Cypress Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $367,000. Keel Point LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 18,898 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,338,000 after buying an additional 1,394 shares in the last quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 1,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $184,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 value 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 approximately $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of DHR traded down $7.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $190.11. 3,797,716 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,369,248. The company has a market capitalization of $136.06 billion, a PE ratio of 36.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day moving average of $199.54 and a 200 day moving average of $220.89. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. Equities research analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.85%.

Danaher 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.