Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 136,684 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,241 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund raised its stake in Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after acquiring an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE DHR opened at $209.90 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $218.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $239.46. 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 $150.02 billion, a PE ratio of 39.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim began coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.76.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.