TCW Group Inc. Has $7.25 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

TCW Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,595 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in 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 own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup cut 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. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $209.86 on Monday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $226.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.45%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.