AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Reduces Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,483 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 549,955 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Danaher by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after acquiring an additional 139,989 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,279,932,000 after purchasing an additional 52,679 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 worth $849,195,000 after purchasing an additional 85,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $245.66 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $188.75 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $267.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.32. The company has a market cap of $177.44 billion, a PE ratio of 46.88, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.