Vestcor Inc Cuts Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Vestcor Inc reduced its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,951 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,246 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in Danaher were worth $4,157,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised 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 period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $342,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the period. Trust Co of Kansas raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Danaher by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its position in shares of Danaher by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $231,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:DHR opened at $234.45 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.34 billion, a PE ratio of 44.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $249.91 and a 200-day moving average of $258.14. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $217.96 and a 52 week 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.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on DHR shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wolfe Research raised Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

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.