Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd Raises Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd raised its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5,626.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 4,220 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 1.3% of Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Geo Capital Gestora de Recursos Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $211.63 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $217.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.