Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Acquires 470 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,990 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 96,490.5% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after buying an additional 23,262,904 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after buying an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Harris Associates L P acquired a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth $557,074,000. Finally, Allen Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after buying an additional 1,028,976 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total transaction of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 over the last quarter. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded up $0.95 on Thursday, hitting $249.72. 2,434,047 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,765,013. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $247.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $230.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.21, a PEG ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.84.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. 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 yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. HSBC assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $215.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, December 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $266.00.

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.