Lincoln National Corp Has $2.09 Million Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Lincoln National Corp cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,026 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Lincoln National Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $2,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fielder Capital Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in shares of Danaher by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 51,241 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,854,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its position in Danaher by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its holdings in Danaher by 39.9% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 35,651 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,237,000 after buying an additional 10,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 40,844 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $9,449,000 after acquiring an additional 5,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares in the company, valued at $28,908,273.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Walter G. Lohr sold 3,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.15, for a total transaction of $826,032.35. Following the sale, the director now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,548,498.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 47,175 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.22, for a total transaction of $11,756,953.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,908,273.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 103,984 shares of company stock worth $25,997,094. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $248.94. 236,769 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,715,930. The company has a market cap of $184.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $259.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $248.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.19.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.20. Danaher had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $259.00 to $271.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $254.00 to $282.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Danaher from $260.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $258.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.31.

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.