Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stock Position Decreased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. decreased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,743,802 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 286,168 shares during the quarter. Danaher comprises 0.6% of Franklin Resources Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.07% of Danaher worth $2,103,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 106,616 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,641,000 after purchasing an additional 2,314 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 8.5% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 52,947 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,720,000 after buying an additional 4,156 shares during the last quarter. Destination Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Destination Wealth Management now owns 159,355 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $44,304,000 after acquiring an additional 2,686 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 591.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 36,075 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,030,000 after acquiring an additional 30,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on DHR. Barclays lowered their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $234.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $169.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.75, a PEG ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $219.15 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $247.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.62.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. Danaher’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 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

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.