Dash Acquisitions Inc. Buys 7,314 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,818 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,314 shares during the period. Danaher makes up 5.1% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. TheStreet raised Danaher from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, December 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $266.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $6.86 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $247.94. The stock had a trading volume of 3,372,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,272. The company’s 50-day moving average is $245.80 and its 200 day moving average is $230.45. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $183.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.