First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 4,184 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,125 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 4,184 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 2.1% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 540.0% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 160 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 4,000 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.01, for a total transaction of $1,000,040.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 29,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,798.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $246.45 on Friday. 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 $182.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.77, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50 day moving average is $248.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $231.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

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.