Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Trimmed by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,781 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 2,447 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System's holdings in Danaher were worth $7,984,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,417,342,000 after acquiring an additional 148,251 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $933,524,000 after acquiring an additional 135,047 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $277.00 price target (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7 %

DHR stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $211.63. 6,383,342 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,016,750. The company has a market capitalization of $151.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.08, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. 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 fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $217.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $238.68.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities 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 will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.