Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 469,685 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 140.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 803,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 469,685 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.11% of Danaher worth $184,501,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on DHR. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. 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 report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $205.69 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $236.39. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $147.01 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s 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.