Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 4,287 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,287 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $23,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup cut their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $205.02 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $222.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $242.18.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.