Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp lowered its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,673,932 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,618 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for approximately 1.7% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned 0.23% of Danaher worth $384,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 441,012 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 0.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $933,524,000 after buying an additional 135,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $205.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $146.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $222.02 and a 200-day moving average of $242.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $196.80 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 price objective on Danaher in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

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.