Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Buys 2,347 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,422 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value 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 $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Down 1.5 %

DHR opened at $206.92 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $205.79 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $233.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.10. The company has a market capitalization of $149.45 billion, a PE ratio of 39.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 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.