Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Short Interest Update

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,010,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the August 31st total of 6,600,000 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,750,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on DHR. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.12.

Insider Activity at Danaher

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Danaher

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 7.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Danaher by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Danaher by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after buying an additional 139,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $274.54 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.83. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $270.98 and a 200 day moving average of $258.24. Danaher has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.