BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Purchases 13,237 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 124,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 13,237 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $28,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 63.3% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $260.00 to $240.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Danaher from $231.00 to $225.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $263.24.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, EVP Christopher Paul Riley sold 15,805 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $198.00, for a total value of $3,129,390.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,005,442. This trade represents a 51.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Steven M. Rales sold 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.74, for a total transaction of $245,925,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 3,105,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $611,036,665.92. This represents a 28.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $186.50 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $196.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.57. The firm has a market cap of $133.47 billion, a PE ratio of 35.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.80. 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 one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.26. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.85%.

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.