Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Neuberger Berman Group LLC

Neuberger Berman Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,928,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 234,073 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up approximately 0.5% of Neuberger Berman Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Neuberger Berman Group LLC owned approximately 0.41% of Danaher worth $672,194,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,750,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $13,715,641,000 after purchasing an additional 315,912 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,358,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,056,996,000 after acquiring an additional 315,446 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,130,740,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 0.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 26,305 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,534,149.90. The trade was 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 at this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

Danaher Trading Up 10.0 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $192.18 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $171.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.40, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $204.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $231.11. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. This is an increase from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Danaher’s payout ratio 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.