Danaher Corporation $DHR Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 33,238 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 660 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $6,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the first quarter worth $833,941,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Danaher by 44.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,708,578 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $965,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450,703 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 290.6% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,441,706 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $295,550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072,617 shares during the period. Generation Investment Management LLP raised its position in Danaher by 33.2% during the first quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 3,178,124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $651,515,000 after acquiring an additional 791,662 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Danaher by 23.3% during the first quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 3,828,024 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $784,745,000 after acquiring an additional 722,636 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DHR shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $230.00 to $220.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Redburn Partners set a $220.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Danaher in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $229.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Teri List sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.06, for a total transaction of $586,324.68. Following the sale, the director owned 20,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,379,706.06. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE DHR opened at $208.06 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $201.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.42. Danaher Corporation has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $274.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.27, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.77.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.16. Danaher had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.72 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 26th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.23%.

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.