First National Bank of Hutchinson Raises Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,248 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson’s holdings in Danaher were worth $975,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price target on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $209.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $218.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $239.46.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

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.