Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 38.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,259 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,453 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter worth $30,000. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter worth $32,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp upped their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Citigroup upped their target price on Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $268.27.

Danaher Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:DHR traded down $3.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $236.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,261,040 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,727,856. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $249.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $229.86. 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 twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $259.00. The stock has a market cap of $175.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.90%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 23,757 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 38,102 shares in the company, 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 in the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.