Tufton Capital Management Has $3.64 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Tufton Capital Management lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 34.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,876 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,098 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $205.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $147.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.96, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $196.80 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $225.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $245.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results 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 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.