Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,157 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,631 shares during the period. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA's holdings in Danaher were worth $1,872,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after purchasing an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Danaher by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $190.85 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $136.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $202.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $228.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting 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 quarter last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays raised shares of Danaher from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $274.81.

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.

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