Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Purchased by Freedom Investment Management Inc.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 5.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,141 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $217,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $363,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Danaher by 75.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,360 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,090,000 after buying an additional 1,874 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $238.90 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $256.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $259.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a PE ratio of 45.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 52-week low of $215.68 and a 52-week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on DHR. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased 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. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

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.