Short Interest in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Declines By 5.7%

Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,320,000 shares, a drop of 5.7% from the September 30th total of 5,640,000 shares. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,370,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Danaher Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:DHR traded up $5.72 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $248.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,857,231 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,741,854. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $260.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43. Danaher has a 1 year low of $188.75 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $183.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.07, a PEG ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.83.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.94% and a return on equity of 11.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Danaher will post 7.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 18.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, 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 the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Danaher during the first quarter valued at $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 99.0% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $339,473,000 after acquiring an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

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.