Aviva PLC Sells 11,225 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Aviva PLC lowered its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 781,456 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,225 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned about 0.11% of Danaher worth $179,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.5% during the 4th 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after buying an additional 315,446 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,971,609,000 after buying an additional 441,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 $4,534,149.90. This trade represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $260.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target 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. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

DHR stock opened at $181.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $209.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $234.26. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $181.20 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 firm posted $2.09 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

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.