Simplify Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 66.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,072 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Danaher were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $51,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $55,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Down 3.1 %

DHR traded down $7.38 on Friday, hitting $232.00. 1,206,782 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,740,475. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $206.30 and a twelve month high of $281.70. 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 company has a market cap of $167.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $262.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $260.49.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’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 year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

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.