Howard Capital Management Group LLC Purchases 9,992 Shares of Danaher Corporation $DHR

Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,992 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DHR. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $10,492,520,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Danaher by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,316,834 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,108,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,542,310 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,456,317,000. Generation Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,287,949,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $993,846,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DHR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Danaher from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Danaher from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Danaher from $260.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.41.

Danaher Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of DHR traded down $2.63 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $228.87. 3,516,366 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,667,069. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $160.93 and a 52-week high of $242.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a current ratio of 1.65. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $214.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $195.97. The firm has a market cap of $160.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.76.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 20th. The conglomerate reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.09. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.04% and a net margin of 15.95%. The firm had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 8.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 28.42%.

Danaher Profile

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that develops and manufactures products, services and solutions for the life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology industries. Its offerings help researchers, healthcare professionals and biopharmaceutical manufacturers discover, develop, produce and analyze medicines and other biological products.

The company operates through businesses that provide laboratory instruments, consumables, software and services, including technologies for cell analysis, genomics, protein research, bioprocessing and clinical diagnostics.