Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 59,844 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,620 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 59,844 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Danaher were worth $41,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 26.9% during the third quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 1,561 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Danaher by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 16,940 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,713,000 after buying an additional 2,499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, German American Bancorp Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 18,584 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,167,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $212.36. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,077,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,016,116. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $216.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $238.13. The company has a market capitalization of $151.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Five 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, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.