Davis Rea LTD. Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Davis Rea LTD. reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,167 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises about 2.0% of Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 1.8% in the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $538,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.4% in the second quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of Kansas increased its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the second quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $242.64 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.42. The firm has a market cap of $179.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $188.75 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

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.