CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $155.25 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 9.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 676,492 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 68,526 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned about 0.09% of Danaher worth $155,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its stake 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 Danaher by 16.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its stake 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 during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust lifted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $988,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded down $3.95 during trading on Friday, reaching $186.71. The stock had a trading volume of 3,667,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,329,253. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $201.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $226.91. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DHR. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $231.00 target price on Danaher in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.55.

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.