Cigna Investments Inc. New Decreases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Cigna Investments Inc. New lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,602 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 101 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after acquiring an additional 428,897 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after purchasing an additional 397,671 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,551,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $203.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $203.00 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $232.72 and a 200 day moving average of $251.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released 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 last year, the firm posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 5,700 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,534,149.90. The trade was a 21.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $260.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.00.

Danaher Company 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.