Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,499 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Danaher by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after acquiring an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,398,649 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,195,000 after purchasing an additional 85,081 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Danaher by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $676,545,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Danaher by 0.9% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,777,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $443,991,000 after buying an additional 15,766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on DHR. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Danaher stock opened at $234.76 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $258.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.96. The stock has a market cap of $169.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $215.68 and a 12-month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.