Assetmark Inc. Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,234 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 3,948 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $18,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DHR. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.2% in the third quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 42,055 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,692,000 after purchasing an additional 914 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 26.5% in the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 17,862 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,742 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher during the third quarter worth $978,000. Equitable Trust Co. grew its holdings in Danaher by 15.4% in the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 12,459 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,464,000 after purchasing an additional 1,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher by 10.0% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,951 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,048,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of DHR opened at $245.39 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $264.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.71. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $192.35 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.16.

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.