Short Interest in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Increases By 7.3%

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,420,000 shares, an increase of 7.3% from the November 15th total of 5,050,000 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,740,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Trust Co of Kansas grew its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.5% in the second quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DHR traded down $0.65 on Tuesday, hitting $233.53. 3,190,444 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,793,669. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. Danaher has a 1-year low of $222.53 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $168.67 billion, a PE ratio of 44.57, a P/E/G ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $245.52 and its 200 day moving average is $257.13.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen upped their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.95.

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.