Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 1,006 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,178 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,006 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth $5,923,000. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.2% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 130,939 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,404,000 after buying an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its stake in Danaher by 29.6% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $310,000. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Danaher by 9.2% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 8,931 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays dropped their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $211.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $153.07 billion, a PE ratio of 40.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $234.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $252.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $210.04 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.45%.

About Danaher

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.