AIA Group Ltd Purchases 132,289 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 614.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 153,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 132,289 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 1.5% of AIA Group Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $35,586,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,601,704. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.00, for a total value of $5,986,764.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,601,704. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

Danaher Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $3.68 during trading on Thursday, hitting $235.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,980,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,710,208. The stock has a market cap of $174.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $259.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $249.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $229.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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. Investors 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 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.