Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 614.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 132,289 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for about 1.5% of AIA Group Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $35,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after buying an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Danaher by 6.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after acquiring an additional 502,868 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after acquiring an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $2,057,164,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $3.68 on Thursday, hitting $235.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,980,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,208. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The company has a market cap of $174.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $229.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. Danaher’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on DHR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Raymond James increased their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

About Danaher

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.