Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,233 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,148,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Apella Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,370,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 11,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, New Hampshire Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,582,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE DHR traded up $0.79 on Thursday, reaching $249.56. 920,881 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,738,226. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $246.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $230.40. The company has a market cap of $184.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. HSBC began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $215.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Wolfe Research started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays lowered Danaher from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $240.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $266.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.