Simplify Asset Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 66.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,072 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 826 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Danaher by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in Danaher by 99.0% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% in 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. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DHR. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Leerink Partners lifted their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.16.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

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 directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Down 3.1 %

Danaher stock traded down $7.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $232.00. 1,206,782 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,740,475. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $167.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $206.30 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $262.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.49.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.