Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 301,697 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 23,109 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $73,312,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew 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 purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its position in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on DHR. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price target (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $276.57.

Danaher Stock Up 4.4 %

NYSE:DHR traded up $7.99 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $188.75. 4,764,014 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,319,341. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $134.90 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $203.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $229.58.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.