Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Mutual of America Capital Management LLC

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,899 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,146 shares during the quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $17,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 133.3% during the 4th quarter. Milestones Administradora de Recursos Ltda. now owns 3,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 34.8% during the 4th quarter. Tufton Capital Management now owns 15,876 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,644,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares during the period. Davis Rea LTD. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 156.3% during the 4th quarter. Davis Rea LTD. now owns 41,428 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,521,000 after purchasing an additional 25,261 shares during the period. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 60.4% during the 4th quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 1,290 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Security Advisor Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Security Advisor Inc. now owns 4,207 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $207.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $148.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $196.80 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day moving average is $224.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $245.09.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.09 EPS. 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 will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Danaher 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.