First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 741 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,796 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 741 shares during the period. Danaher comprises 2.0% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,715,826 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $382,936,000 after buying an additional 9,942 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $203.42 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $203.00 and a one year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $232.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

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.