Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 341,539 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,645 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Danaher were worth $79,012,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6.5% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,030,327,000 after purchasing an additional 502,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,009,789,000 after purchasing an additional 134,905 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG now owns 4,601,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,064,477,000 after purchasing an additional 82,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 13.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,070,455 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,009,880,000 after purchasing an additional 473,693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,029,891.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Teri List sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $248.32, for a total transaction of $816,724.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,726 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,898,360.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,244 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 106,565 shares of company stock worth $26,641,364. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $269.64.

Danaher Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $246.58. 2,710,446 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,710,897. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $259.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $248.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $231.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.64 billion, a PE ratio of 41.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.43% and a net margin of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

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.