Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,684 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,241 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,376,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.76.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $209.90 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.75, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $218.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $239.46.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.