Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Has $847,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 497.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,631 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 3,023 shares during the quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $847,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $239.39 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $249.28 and a 200-day moving average of $229.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The stock has a market cap of $177.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.46, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 38,102 shares in the company, valued at $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,957 shares of company stock valued at $8,265,802 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on DHR. Raymond James boosted their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price 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. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

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.