Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Lowers Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 189 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,715,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after acquiring an additional 116,299 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. increased its stake in Danaher by 30.4% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,617,000 after acquiring an additional 397,671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $223.12 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $223.00 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $161.15 billion, a PE ratio of 42.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $236.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.66.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.14.

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.