ING Groep NV Acquires 51,438 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

ING Groep NV lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 59.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 137,402 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,438 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% in the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Bank of America raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.00.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE DHR opened at $205.23 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $227.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $247.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $148.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

About Danaher

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.