Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by General American Investors Co. Inc.

General American Investors Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 20.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 60,010 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the quarter. General American Investors Co. Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $16,684,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in Danaher by 99.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in Danaher by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 40,196.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $248.99. 44,217 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,731,678. The firm has a market cap of $179.84 billion, a PE ratio of 47.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $265.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $260.75. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $192.35 and a 1-year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners increased 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.