Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $131.57 Million Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 573,168 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,217 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 0.08% of Danaher worth $131,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $391,172,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.40.

Danaher Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE DHR traded up $3.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $199.17. 3,686,255 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,360,833. The company's 50-day moving average is $200.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.29. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70. 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 company has a market capitalization of $142.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. This is an increase from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This 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. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.