Albion Financial Group UT Increases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Albion Financial Group UT raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 360.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,290 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Danaher were worth $296,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 30.4% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Danaher by 82.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 653,375 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $181,651,000 after buying an additional 295,187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Danaher from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $285.55.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $244.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $176.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.60, a PEG ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $253.53. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $225.42 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

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.