Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 426,852 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 18,448 shares during the quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.06% of Danaher worth $97,984,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $933,524,000 after purchasing an additional 135,047 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company'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 $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several recent 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Danaher from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price target for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of DHR traded down $5.31 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $199.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,941,467 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,190,023. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.34 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock's 50 day moving average is $212.24 and its 200 day moving average is $235.18. The firm has a market cap of $142.83 billion, a PE ratio of 37.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting 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 earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 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.