Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Cuts Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 634,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 96,164 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.09% of Danaher worth $158,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.0% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 986,637 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $246,520,000 after purchasing an additional 89,745 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 26.1% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 474,808 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $118,631,000 after purchasing an additional 98,402 shares during the period. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 8.4% during the second quarter. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,727 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 10.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,619 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,518 shares during the period. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 20,230 shares in the company, valued at $5,566,486.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 over the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.94.

Danaher Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $272.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $201.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.21, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $267.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.14. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $182.09 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.