Fisher Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,227,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 248,140 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned about 0.57% of Danaher worth $977,900,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028,976 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $178,850,000. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $161,994,000. Finally, Harris Associates L P increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 27.7% during the third quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 2,963,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $735,343,000 after purchasing an additional 642,759 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total value of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock valued at $26,641,364 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $2.94 on Thursday, reaching $243.95. The company had a trading volume of 571,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,753,417. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $248.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $231.90. The firm has a market cap of $180.69 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a PEG ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $267.31.

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.