Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Position Increased by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 7.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,693 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after buying an additional 1,619,586 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,691,735,000 after buying an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter worth about $1,752,382,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 46,377 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $253.05, for a total transaction of $11,735,699.85. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 29,407 shares in the company, valued at $7,441,441.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Alan G. Spoon sold 708 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.58, for a total transaction of $172,454.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 116,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,304,483.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 84,775 shares of company stock valued at $21,802,690 in the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. HSBC upgraded Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $250.00 to $280.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Danaher from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $276.88.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR traded down $2.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $271.65. 2,135,626 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,916,856. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $182.09 and a fifty-two week high of $277.72. The company has a market capitalization of $196.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.04, a PEG ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $255.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.66.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

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.