Ames National Corp Takes $219,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ames National Corp bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 955 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of DHR stock opened at $197.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $196.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $216.78. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $141.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.44, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

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.