Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 267 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 49,676 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 267 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Danaher were worth $12,412,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gardner Lewis Asset Management L P bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $668,000. Waterloo Capital L.P. raised its holdings in Danaher by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 5,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,404,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Danaher by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,777,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $443,991,000 after purchasing an additional 15,766 shares in the last quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.2% in the second quarter. O Brien Greene & Co. Inc now owns 38,743 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,680,000 after acquiring an additional 827 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 56,633 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,103,000 after purchasing an additional 4,620 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total transaction of $4,525,572.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,229,254.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 0.2 %

DHR opened at $271.90 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $201.39 billion, a PE ratio of 46.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $266.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $256.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.94.

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.