Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Grows Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,688 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,830 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $7,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $363,000. Caden Capital Partners LP raised its stake in Danaher by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,172,000 after acquiring an additional 15,313 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its position in Danaher by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $132,524,000 after acquiring an additional 55,908 shares during the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at $2,614,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the first quarter worth about $4,151,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on DHR shares. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised 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. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, 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 transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $272.48 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $265.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $256.78. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $182.09 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.18, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

About Danaher

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.