UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Decreases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 45.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 167,838 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 141,169 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd's holdings in Danaher were worth $38,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sava Infond d.o.o. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $744,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Danaher by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,023,696 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $240,405,000 after acquiring an additional 71,540 shares during the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 500,750 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $114,947,000 after acquiring an additional 3,913 shares during the period. Mendel Money Management boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 22,447 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $771,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a "sector perform" rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $278.24.

Remove Ads

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR traded down $4.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $201.73. The stock had a trading volume of 1,119,975 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,178,646. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $214.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.39. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $196.80 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Danaher's payout ratio is 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate 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.