Zacks Investment Management Has $49.28 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Zacks Investment Management cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 214,665 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 25,274 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Danaher were worth $49,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,589,019 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,971,609,000 after purchasing an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after buying an additional 26,305 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down previously from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays upgraded Danaher from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $240.00 to $205.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.57.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $189.92 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $171.00 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $202.93 and a 200 day moving average of $228.73. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $135.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.24%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.