Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Stake Reduced by Eastern Bank

Eastern Bank decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,557 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Eastern Bank’s holdings in Danaher were worth $24,001,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 45.1% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Up 2.0 %

Danaher stock traded up $4.69 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $239.76. The stock had a trading volume of 2,400,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,785,549. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $235.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.73. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $222.53 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $173.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.83. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on DHR. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.80.

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.