Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 56,445 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,531 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 1.2% of Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $13,058,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Apella Capital LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 2,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.8% during the first quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 6,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.9% in the third quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,523 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. IMS Capital Management boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.4% in the second quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 11,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,651,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, New Hampshire Trust boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 14,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $249.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,434,047 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,765,013. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.72 billion, a PE ratio of 39.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $230.53.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.02%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $215.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Danaher from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, December 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.00.

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.