Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 285,494 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 30.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 653,841 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 285,494 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.09% of Danaher worth $150,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $1.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $196.01. The company had a trading volume of 2,715,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,352,419. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is $200.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.98. The stock has a market cap of $140.28 billion, a PE ratio of 37.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. Research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

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.