Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Rhumbline Advisers

Rhumbline Advisers cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,167,890 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,622 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Danaher were worth $268,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC raised its position in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 1,212.8% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after acquiring an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,044,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on DHR shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $206.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $149.26 billion, a PE ratio of 39.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $230.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.96.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.45%.

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.