Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Reduces Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,980,057 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 1,490,348 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 2.63% of Danaher worth $4,356,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $1.91 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $195.23. 704,155 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,487,451. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $200.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $223.98. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. 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 stock has a market cap of $139.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during 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 Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. This is a positive change from Danaher's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is currently 24.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock 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 report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $264.40.

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.