Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 16.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,628 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,034 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $8,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after acquiring an additional 2,998,161 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Danaher by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,956,519 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,691,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,781 shares during the period. Finally, Edgewood Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 6,381,293 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,476,248,000 after purchasing an additional 454,950 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.94.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock opened at $276.43 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $182.09 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $267.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $257.03. The stock has a market cap of $204.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.39%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.