Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,860,099 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 126,168 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.26% of Danaher worth $517,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $237.65 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $215.68 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The stock has a market cap of $171.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $257.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $259.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company 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 company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.16.

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.