Zacks Investment Management Has $49.28 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Zacks Investment Management lessened its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,665 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 25,274 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in Danaher were worth $49,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after acquiring an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the 4th 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 5.4% during the 4th 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 raised its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $3.95 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $186.71. 3,667,685 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,325,342. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $201.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.23. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap 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.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share 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 $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.