Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 285,494 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 30.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 653,841 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 285,494 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.09% of Danaher worth $150,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in 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. ORG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 1,212.8% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 2,559 shares in the last quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter worth about $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Danaher by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 10,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 5,666 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued 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 shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $230.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $264.40.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock traded down $1.36 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $197.57. The stock had a trading volume of 869,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,351,253. The firm has a market cap of $141.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The business's 50-day moving average is $200.51 and its 200 day moving average is $223.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total value of $1,277,541.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher 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.