Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 59,317 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,038 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Danaher were worth $13,616,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $988,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Insider Activity 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $210.15 on Thursday. 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 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $215.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $237.56. The company has a market capitalization of $150.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS 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 quarter last year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

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.