Austin Private Wealth LLC Grows Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,846 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 198 shares during the quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter worth $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $222.56 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $221.34 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $235.66 and a 200 day moving average of $253.24. The firm has a market cap of $160.75 billion, a PE ratio of 42.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.72%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 8.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.45%.

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.