Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Reduced by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,657 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,781 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $10,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its stake in Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays raised Danaher from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $274.55.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $3.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $186.71. 3,667,685 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,325,342. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $201.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.23. The company has a market cap of $133.44 billion, a PE ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend 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.