Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Nixon Peabody Trust Co.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 61,272 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 78 shares during the quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 1.0 %

Danaher stock opened at $207.73 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $224.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $245.09. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $148.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.