Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Alaethes Wealth LLC

Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,960 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the period. Alaethes Wealth LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Danaher by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 6,381,293 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,476,248,000 after purchasing an additional 454,950 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $278.94.

Danaher Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of DHR opened at $272.63 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $267.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $257.14. 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 cap of $201.93 billion, a PE ratio of 46.21, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.31%.

Insider Activity

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Linda Filler sold 3,928 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.50, for a total value of $1,097,876.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,501,145.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction 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. Insiders sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 over the last 90 days. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Danaher 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.