Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Trims Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 113,648 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,901 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $31,596,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Danaher by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of Kansas lifted its position in Danaher by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its position in Danaher by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on DHR shares. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.16.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 10.90% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Stock Performance

DHR stock traded up $0.24 on Wednesday, reaching $239.84. 182,654 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,737,283. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $200.36 and a 12 month high of $281.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $263.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $260.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.23 billion, a PE ratio of 45.72, a PEG ratio of 4.47 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

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.