Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Alerus Financial NA

Alerus Financial NA raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 100.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,394 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,199 shares during the quarter. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $555,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 13,294 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,696,000 after buying an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 12,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 5.6% in the third quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $210.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $215.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $237.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $150.27 billion, a PE ratio of 39.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.