Principal Financial Group Inc. Lowers Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,056,976 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 58,911 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.41% of Danaher worth $849,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 7.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,107,030 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $15,009,928,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,657 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter valued at approximately $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Danaher by 99.0% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $339,473,000 after purchasing an additional 675,952 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Danaher by 22.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $761,475,000 after purchasing an additional 563,546 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $119,539,000 after purchasing an additional 428,897 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Danaher Trading Down 0.6 %

DHR stock traded down $1.54 during trading on Thursday, hitting $246.22. 1,764,646 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,739,643. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $265.79 and a 200-day moving average of $260.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.84 billion, a PE ratio of 47.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $192.35 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Danaher's payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.