SFE Investment Counsel Has $2.93 Million Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

SFE Investment Counsel raised its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 40.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,670 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,665 shares during the period. SFE Investment Counsel’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 74,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,221,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group now owns 1,559 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. NBW Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. NBW Capital LLC now owns 23,864 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,521,000 after buying an additional 857 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 119,794 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,713,000 after buying an additional 10,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tufton Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 10,614 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,455,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on 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 owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $3.61 during trading on Thursday, hitting $235.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,841,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,708,023. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $259.00. The company has a market capitalization of $174.60 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $249.28 and its 200 day moving average is $229.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.90%.

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.