Ethic Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ethic Inc. increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 44.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 56,333 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 17,402 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $12,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the fourth quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,390.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Trading Down 2.8%

DHR stock traded down $5.40 during trading on Friday, hitting $189.42. The company had a trading volume of 4,535,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,411,207. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $198.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.88, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 24.85%.

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.