MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 8,698 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

MetLife Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 167,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 8,698 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $46,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at about $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 target for the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of Danaher stock traded up $2.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $238.73. 108,442 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,755,117. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $215.68 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a market cap of $172.43 billion, a PE ratio of 45.14, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $256.66 and its 200 day moving average is $259.81.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.