Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 6.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,027,589 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 70,619 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.14% of Danaher worth $235,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA grew its holdings in Danaher by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 4.1% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Spinnaker Trust increased its stake in Danaher by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $988,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DHR. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.40.

Danaher Trading Down 1.2 %

DHR traded down $2.43 on Thursday, reaching $196.90. 3,687,430 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,365,496. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $140.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.29, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The company's 50 day moving average is $200.30 and its 200-day moving average is $223.12. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $171.00 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 28th. Danaher's payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.