Heritage Investors Management Corp Trims Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Heritage Investors Management Corp cut its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,638 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Danaher by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter worth about $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Danaher by 99.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $339,473,000 after buying an additional 675,952 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $761,475,000 after buying an additional 563,546 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Leerink Partners increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DHR opened at $250.16 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $266.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.84. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $192.35 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.68 billion, a PE ratio of 47.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.85.

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

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.