Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Grows Position in Danaher Corporation $DHR

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 437,475 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 14,996 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up about 1.4% of Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC owned about 0.06% of Danaher worth $100,147,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Viking Global Investors LP increased its position in Danaher by 543.9% in the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,907,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $574,351,000 after purchasing an additional 2,455,994 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP increased its position in Danaher by 34.0% in the third quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 6,654,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,319,354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,020 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 211.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,088,089 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $414,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,418,243 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Danaher by 33.9% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,519,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $697,680,000 after purchasing an additional 891,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Danaher by 23.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,813,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $755,991,000 after purchasing an additional 729,597 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.6%

DHR stock opened at $193.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Danaher Corporation has a twelve month low of $175.51 and a twelve month high of $242.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.09. Danaher had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total transaction of $274,573.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,099 shares in the company, valued at $1,060,642.99. The trade was a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Leerink Partners boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $251.35.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.