BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Boosts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 124,466 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 13,237 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Danaher were worth $28,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Danaher by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Danaher by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,934,991 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,821,477,000 after buying an additional 992,594 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. HSBC cut their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $260.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $263.24.

Danaher Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $4.48 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $189.02. 831,175 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,465,055. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $214.85. The stock has a market cap of $135.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.85%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares in the company, valued at $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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.