Davis R M Inc. Sells 3,833 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Davis R M Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 326,049 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,833 shares during the period. Danaher accounts for 1.8% of Davis R M Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $90,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Danaher in the second quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $235.84 on Monday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $215.68 and a 52 week 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 $170.34 billion, a PE ratio of 45.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $258.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $260.03.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.