Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 10,889 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. decreased its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 619,386 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,889 shares during the quarter. Danaher makes up 1.5% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned approximately 0.09% of Danaher worth $172,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Danaher during the 1st quarter valued at about $676,545,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 99.0% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,358,706 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $339,473,000 after acquiring an additional 675,952 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Danaher by 22.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,047,728 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $761,475,000 after acquiring an additional 563,546 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 40,196.5% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 429,964 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $119,539,000 after acquiring an additional 428,897 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 1st quarter worth approximately $98,913,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on DHR. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays cut their price objective on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Down 3.7 %

Danaher stock traded down $8.88 on Friday, hitting $230.50. 5,435,775 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,011,640. 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 business's fifty day simple moving average is $262.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.47. The firm has a market cap of $166.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $206.30 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher's payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Transactions at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of Danaher stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 18.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company's stock.

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.