Flputnam Investment Management Co. Has $3.89 Million Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. lessened its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,823 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,568 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,180,839,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262,904 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Danaher by 18.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares in the last quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC raised its position in Danaher by 1,440.7% during the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $178,850,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on DHR. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.43.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of DHR traded up $0.16 on Tuesday, hitting $239.82. 404,856 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,663,654. The company has a market capitalization of $177.60 billion, a PE ratio of 37.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $249.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.84. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.87 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 16.90%.

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.