Danaher Corporation $DHR Shares Bought by Capital Advisors Inc. OK

Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 230,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 13,796 shares during the quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings in Danaher were worth $52,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Danaher by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,758,240 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,318,926,000 after buying an additional 312,951 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Danaher by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 6,654,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,319,354,000 after buying an additional 1,689,020 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 5.0% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,452,118 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $882,677,000 after acquiring an additional 211,053 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 0.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,369,219 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $866,241,000 after acquiring an additional 28,583 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 23.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,813,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $755,991,000 after acquiring an additional 729,597 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Friday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $254.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Argus set a $265.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total transaction of $274,573.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 5,099 shares in the company, valued at $1,060,642.99. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Up 3.0%

NYSE DHR opened at $189.33 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $207.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.61. Danaher Corporation has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $242.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The company has a market capitalization of $133.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.93.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.09. Danaher had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.14 earnings per share. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Corporation 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 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.75%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.