Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Bank of Hawaii

Bank of Hawaii reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 65.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,010 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,338 shares during the quarter. Bank of Hawaii's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 29,287.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.6 %

DHR stock traded down $3.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $189.97. 1,204,904 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,314,524. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $135.77 billion, a PE ratio of 35.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $203.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $229.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 company posted $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $276.57.

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.