The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $446.50 Million Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,945,109 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 85,010 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.27% of Danaher worth $446,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its holdings in Danaher by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,044,000. Compass Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Channing Global Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 42.8% during the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $264.40.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,005,442. This represents a 51.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $2.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $196.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,687,430 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,365,496. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $200.30 and its 200-day moving average is $223.12. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $171.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $140.92 billion, a PE ratio of 37.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

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

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.