Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,398,290 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 48,324 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.19% of Danaher worth $320,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $391,172,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Danaher by 6,862.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $213,452,000 after purchasing an additional 916,513 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Danaher by 31.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $712,842,000 after purchasing an additional 749,136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 29,287.7% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 588,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $135,189,000 after purchasing an additional 586,925 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Stock Down 2.1 %

DHR opened at $205.69 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $147.01 billion, a PE ratio of 38.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $196.80 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $214.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $236.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 24.24%.

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.