Vestcor Inc Sells 3,246 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Vestcor Inc cut its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 17.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,951 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 3,246 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc's holdings in Danaher were worth $4,157,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Danaher by 99.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Danaher by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 30.4% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $465,617,000 after buying an additional 397,671 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $1.10 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $235.44. 3,370,315 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,781,428. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $249.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $218.48 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $287.16.

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.