Achmea Investment Management B.V. Reduces Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Achmea Investment Management B.V. reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,817 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,294 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 380.0% during the fourth quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 168 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 38,108 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,784 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,787,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knuff & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Knuff & Co LLC now owns 8,407 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR opened at $203.96 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $241.22. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $196.80 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Danaher Company 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.