EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 51.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,440 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its position in Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $211.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $220.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $240.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.87 billion, a PE ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Danaher Company 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.