Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 7,157 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 75.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,615 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,157 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Well Done LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $245.95 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $177.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $225.42 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $235.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $285.55.

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.