Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Sells 21,590 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 279,449 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 21,590 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $64,148,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Danaher by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 21,233 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,202 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1,212.8% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 2,559 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $8,044,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 847,348 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $235,583,000 after buying an additional 11,216 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 237,922 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 10,994 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.00.

Danaher Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $212.35 on Monday. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $196.80 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a 50 day moving average of $222.51 and a 200-day moving average of $242.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $151.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.33% and a return on equity of 10.82%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 24.24%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.13, for a total transaction of $1,277,541.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.