Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $4.69 Million Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,431 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Certified Advisory Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 957 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $346,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Well Done LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Well Done LLC now owns 3,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $987,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR opened at $238.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $172.20 billion, a PE ratio of 45.50, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $222.53 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $253.51.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. Danaher’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

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.