Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Marshall Wace LLP

Marshall Wace LLP lessened its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 34.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,908,492 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,012,670 shares during the period. Danaher comprises 0.6% of Marshall Wace LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $476,837,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $363,000. Caden Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,172,000 after acquiring an additional 15,313 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its stake in Danaher by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,524,000 after buying an additional 55,908 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $2,614,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter worth $4,151,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price for the company. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

Danaher Trading Up 0.2 %

DHR opened at $273.19 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $182.09 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $202.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released 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 company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,435,240. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.