Edgewood Management LLC Has $1.77 Billion Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Edgewood Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,383,468 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 118,624 shares during the period. Danaher makes up about 4.8% of Edgewood Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Edgewood Management LLC owned approximately 0.88% of Danaher worth $1,774,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in Danaher during the second quarter worth about $25,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In other news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. The trade was a 18.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $234.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $169.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.80, a PEG ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $258.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $259.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $215.68 and a 52 week high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.46%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen upped their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher presently 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.