Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 59,844 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 24.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 180,620 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 59,844 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Danaher were worth $41,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.76.

Danaher Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $210.14 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $217.92 and a 200-day moving average of $239.26. 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 stock has a market cap of $150.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher 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.