Employees Retirement System of Texas Makes New $55.16 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 240,300 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $55,161,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 1,749 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 7,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 1,229 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Trust boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 4,304 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 8.3 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $181.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market cap of $129.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $209.99 and its 200-day moving average is $233.73. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $165.17 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $277.00 price objective (down from $299.00) on shares of Danaher in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $277.00 to $268.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five 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, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.24.

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.