Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Purchases Shares of 14,532 Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 14,532 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,923,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in Danaher by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Danaher by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 126,340 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,125,000 after buying an additional 3,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnus Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at about $233,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 target price (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $202.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $146.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.30, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $231.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.62. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

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.