Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,398,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 85,081 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.46% of Danaher worth $849,195,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Danaher during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Tsfg LLC raised its stake in Danaher by 733.3% during the first quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $295.00 target price on the stock. Leerink Partners raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.94.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $274.25 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $198.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.48, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $182.09 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $264.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $256.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.05 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 payout ratio is currently 18.31%.

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.