Boston Common Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,822 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 16,027 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $19,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,490,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after purchasing an additional 116,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE DHR traded down $3.49 on Friday, hitting $238.41. 3,044,734 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,640,177. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $234.85 and a 200-day moving average of $253.32. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $222.53 and a 12 month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.80.

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.