Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Cuts Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 38.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,385 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 3,987 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Danaher were worth $1,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after buying an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,417,342,000 after buying an additional 148,251 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Danaher by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $996,141,000 after acquiring an additional 535,254 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE DHR traded up $5.29 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $240.36. The stock had a trading volume of 878,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,549,936. The company has a market cap of $173.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.87, a PEG ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $222.53 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business's 50 day moving average is $235.67 and its 200-day moving average is $253.73.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during 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 was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DHR. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.80.

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.