Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Cynosure Group LLC

Cynosure Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 449.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,512 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 7,781 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth about $5,988,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its stake in Danaher by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 72,419 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $20,134,000 after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 526.8% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 13,496 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,753,000 after purchasing an additional 11,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $200.09 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $143.01 billion, a PE ratio of 37.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $213.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $235.39. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.