Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,836,208 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 142,400 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.25% of Danaher worth $421,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of DHR opened at $205.24 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $241.48. The company has a market capitalization of $146.69 billion, a PE ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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