Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group Buys 301 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,559 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group’s holdings in Danaher were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,057,164,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,185,203,000 after acquiring an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Allen Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1,440.7% in the third quarter. Allen Investment Management LLC now owns 1,100,399 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $273,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,028,976 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at about $178,850,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $3.44 during trading on Thursday, reaching $235.95. 2,580,150 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,705,003. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $249.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.86. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $174.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.18. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the sale, the director now owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Danaher news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total value of $816,724.48. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares in the company, valued at $4,898,360.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total transaction of $636,280.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.27.

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.