Liberty Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Liberty Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 34,582 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Danaher makes up 2.1% of Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Liberty Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $9,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tsfg LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter worth $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter worth about $51,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 over the last ninety days. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of DHR opened at $261.28 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $260.46. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DHR. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Friday, September 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.06.

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.