BLB&B Advisors LLC Purchases 1,799 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lifted its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 52,137 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,799 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 7.4% in the 1st 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. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,279,932,000 after purchasing an additional 52,679 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,398,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,195,000 after buying an additional 85,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $761,475,000 after buying an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $261.28 on Wednesday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a market cap of $193.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.28, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $270.67 and its 200 day moving average is $260.46. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’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 transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on DHR. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners upped their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.12.

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.