Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Lowers Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,126 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,674 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.2% in the 4th quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after buying an additional 1,533 shares during the period. Caden Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,172,000 after purchasing an additional 15,313 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,524,000 after purchasing an additional 55,908 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $2,614,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,151,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of DHR traded up $1.49 on Friday, hitting $266.20. 3,324,729 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,790,567. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $261.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $255.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.83. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.