Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by Empower Advisory Group LLC

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 52 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $711,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 7.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter worth $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Danaher by 99.0% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 22.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $239.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $172.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.40 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $263.42 and a 200-day moving average of $260.64. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $204.15 and a 52-week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wolfe Research upgraded Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

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.