North Dakota State Investment Board Purchases Shares of 21,880 Danaher Corporation $DHR

North Dakota State Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 21,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $5,009,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Viking Global Investors LP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 543.9% in the second quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 2,907,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $574,351,000 after acquiring an additional 2,455,994 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 104.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,333,056 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $991,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,216,789 shares during the last quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 34.0% in the third quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 6,654,666 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,319,354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,020 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 211.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,088,089 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $414,038,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 33.9% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,519,013 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $697,680,000 after acquiring an additional 891,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $235.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $240.00 to $212.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $251.00 to $249.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $238.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total value of $274,573.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 5,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,060,642.99. This trade represents a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of DHR stock opened at $161.95 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $114.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.81. Danaher Corporation has a one year low of $160.93 and a one year high of $242.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $186.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $210.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The conglomerate reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.91% and a net margin of 14.89%.Danaher’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 8.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.95%.

Danaher Company Profile

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.