Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 943 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,784 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.5 %

DHR opened at $203.96 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $220.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $241.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

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.