GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 1,125 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 33.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,480 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Danaher by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after buying an additional 4,163,657 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,928,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,460,966,000 after purchasing an additional 2,998,161 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,757,558 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,876,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,619,586 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Danaher by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,490,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Danaher by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,125,470 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,279,932,000 after purchasing an additional 52,679 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Danaher from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Bank of America raised their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Danaher from $271.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $282.12.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $268.79 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $271.07 and its 200 day moving average is $258.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $199.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.56, a PEG ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $182.09 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $5.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 16.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.59 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 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is presently 18.31%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In related news, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total transaction of $2,641,536.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Rainer Blair sold 9,007 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.00, for a total value of $2,521,960.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 97,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,435,240. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian W. Ellis sold 9,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.16, for a total value of $2,641,536.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 20,230 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,566,486.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 39,659 shares of company stock valued at $11,042,433. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.