Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. Sells 9,300 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. trimmed its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 327,600 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,300 shares during the period. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $75,787,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Danaher by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,930,281 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $6,185,203,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905,449 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 96,490.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,287,013 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,180,839,000 after buying an additional 23,262,904 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,183,501 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,030,327,000 after buying an additional 502,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,100,722 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,009,789,000 after buying an additional 134,905 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $2,057,164,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $267.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total value of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 2,622 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $242.67, for a total value of $636,280.74. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,244 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,029,891.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,548,498.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,957 shares of company stock worth $8,265,802 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR traded down $4.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $239.95. The company had a trading volume of 2,684,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,480,293. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $177.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $249.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.02. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $259.00.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The conglomerate reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.91 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 17.26% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.87 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.90%.

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.