Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 56,778 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Clearbridge Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 19.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 241,788 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 56,778 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $55,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in 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 last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Danaher by 5.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 441,012 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,578,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,051,097,000 after acquiring an additional 26,305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,066,755 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $933,524,000 after purchasing an additional 135,047 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $205.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $196.80 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $146.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.83, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $213.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $235.91.

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

Danaher Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This is a positive change from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 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.