South Dakota Investment Council Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

South Dakota Investment Council increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,682 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. World Equity Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 2,726 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,061,000. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Cabot Wealth Management Inc. now owns 41,595 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,548,000 after buying an additional 14,491 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 1,502 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,502 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,033,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $209.86 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $151.58 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $226.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.84. 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.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 20.45%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Citigroup dropped their price target 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.