AIA Group Ltd Acquires 5,688 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 174,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,688 shares during the period. Danaher makes up 1.3% of AIA Group Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Danaher were worth $48,653,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,009,928,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163,657 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter worth $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Danaher by 99.0% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $339,473,000 after acquiring an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Danaher by 22.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $761,475,000 after acquiring an additional 563,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $119,539,000 after acquiring an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DHR shares. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $246.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.97, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1-year low of $192.35 and a 1-year high of $281.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $265.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $260.75.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.61%.

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.