Norges Bank Purchases New Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,282,250 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Norges Bank owned 1.29% of Danaher at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after acquiring an additional 2,202 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $210.15 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $215.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.56. The stock has a market cap of $150.19 billion, a PE ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher 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.