Quantbot Technologies LP Invests $2.85 Million in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 12,410 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,849,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after purchasing an additional 11,216 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher 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 directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.7 %

DHR stock opened at $211.63 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $217.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.