Amica Retiree Medical Trust Has $480,000 Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Amica Retiree Medical Trust trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,093 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 182 shares during the quarter. Amica Retiree Medical Trust’s holdings in Danaher were worth $480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $135,189,000 after buying an additional 586,925 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $120,718,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $210.15 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $215.86 and a 200 day moving average of $237.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $196.80 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $150.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.80, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

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.