Meeder Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 164 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,067 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $41,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 733.3% in the 1st quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $30,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $274.25 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $264.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.51. 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 $198.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.94.

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.