Rhumbline Advisers Reduces Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,082,717 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 85,173 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.15% of Danaher worth $221,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. FAS Wealth Partners Inc. now owns 9,597 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the period. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC grew its position in Danaher by 42.8% in the fourth quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.24.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This trade represents a 28.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $3,005,442. The trade was a 51.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded up $0.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $193.41. 1,004,135 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,468,510. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $191.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $212.83. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $138.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.