Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stock Holdings Lifted by Quent Capital LLC

Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $652,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 1.2% during the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after buying an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Down 1.2 %

DHR opened at $201.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $145.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $231.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.14. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $199.75 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.