Financial Counselors Inc. Increases Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 0.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 111,219 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 668 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $30,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at $40,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $238.90 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $215.68 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $256.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $259.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly 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. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. 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 a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.