Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Raises Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 31.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,282 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,576 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Danaher were worth $14,062,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter worth $363,000. Caden Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Danaher by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Caden Capital Partners LP now owns 139,068 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,172,000 after buying an additional 15,313 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its holdings in Danaher by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 572,858 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $132,524,000 after acquiring an additional 55,908 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,614,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the first quarter worth about $4,151,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DHR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Danaher from $266.00 to $260.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given 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 $278.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at $27,435,240. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Danaher news, CFO Matthew Mcgrew sold 16,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $279.84, for a total transaction of $4,525,572.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 29,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,229,254.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total transaction of $2,521,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,435,240. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $276.43 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $257.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $182.09 and a one year high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $204.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

About Danaher

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.