Kentucky Trust Co Makes New Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kentucky Trust Co bought a new position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 150 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,715,826 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $382,936,000 after buying an additional 9,942 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 0.3 %

DHR stock opened at $202.22 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $231.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $250.62. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two 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 company has a market cap of $146.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

About Danaher

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.