Legal & General Group Plc Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,192,400 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,636,980 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $962,365,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $181.42 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $209.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.73. The company has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $165.17 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.