Voya Investment Management LLC Sells 71,502 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 876,076 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 71,502 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Danaher worth $201,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $2,130,740,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $391,172,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,361,183 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,460,215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566,658 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 6,862.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 929,868 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $213,452,000 after buying an additional 916,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 31.8% in the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,105,388 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $712,842,000 after buying an additional 749,136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $264.40.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $2.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $198.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,342,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,473,675. 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 $141.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.53, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's 50-day moving average is $200.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.46. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $171.00 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.