Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 136,684 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 3,241 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS's holdings in Danaher were worth $31,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:DHR traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $212.97. 3,615,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,019,141. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.13. The firm has a market cap of $152.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.33, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.