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

South Dakota Investment Council increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 82.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,995 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 5,420 shares during the period. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,775,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 1,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Trust Investment Advisors lifted its position in Danaher by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 2,811 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $650,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Connolly Sarah T. lifted its position in Danaher by 0.5% during the third quarter. Connolly Sarah T. now owns 9,599 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% during the third quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,566 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $250.41 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The stock has a market cap of $185.44 billion, a PE ratio of 42.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $249.00 and a 200 day moving average of $230.78.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.48%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. Danaher’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $270.00.

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.