Eastover Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Eastover Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 14.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,246 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 791 shares during the quarter. Eastover Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,737,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. XML Financial LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 5,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,245,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 78.7% during the 4th quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,283 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,647 shares in the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 4th quarter worth $624,000. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. lifted its holdings in Danaher by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Mmbg Investment Advisors CO. now owns 15,155 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,506,000 after buying an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,864,000. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’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 $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $27,435,240. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 39,659 shares of company stock worth $11,042,433 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE:DHR opened at $268.79 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $182.09 and a 1 year high of $281.70. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $271.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $199.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 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 firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is 18.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DHR has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partners increased their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.12.

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.