Employees Retirement System of Texas Makes New $55.16 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 240,300 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $55,161,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 63.3% in 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 period. Finally, Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. HSBC lowered their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $263.24.

Danaher Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of DHR traded up $1.37 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $190.38. 2,814,467 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,472,922. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. The business's 50-day moving average price is $193.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.49.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business 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 yield of 0.67%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total value of $245,925,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 3,105,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. The trade was a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the business'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 11.20% of the company's stock.

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.