Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Great Lakes Advisors LLC

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,623 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,791 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $3,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,874,000 after buying an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $636,000 after buying an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $211.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $150.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $220.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $240.82. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 company posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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