Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Cigna Investments Inc. New

Cigna Investments Inc. New trimmed its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,602 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 101 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 148,251 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares during the period. Finally, Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,715,826 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $382,936,000 after purchasing an additional 9,942 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $203.42 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $203.00 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $146.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.53, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $232.72 and a 200 day moving average of $251.61. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The conglomerate reported $2.14 earnings per share (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 period in the previous year, the company earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. This represents a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank began coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Danaher from $280.00 to $240.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.00.

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.