Legal & General Group Plc Sells 1,636,980 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 28.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,192,400 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,636,980 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.58% of Danaher worth $962,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at about $10,481,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 15.3% in the third quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,065 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,525,000 after buying an additional 3,593 shares in the last quarter. Tenere Capital LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during the third quarter. Tenere Capital LLC now owns 36,328 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,100,000 after acquiring an additional 1,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 45.1% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $181.42 on Monday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $165.17 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $209.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.73. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Analysts forecast 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. This is a positive change 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 is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.