Sava Infond d.o.o. Makes New Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,240 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $744,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $210.15 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.56. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

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.