Argent Capital Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Argent Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 377,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 9,559 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for approximately 2.4% of Argent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC owned 0.05% of Danaher worth $86,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the third 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 period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 17.6% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $996,141,000 after purchasing an additional 535,254 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Danaher by 40,196.5% during the third 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 period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 30.4% in the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,705,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $465,617,000 after acquiring an additional 397,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 82.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 653,375 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $181,651,000 after acquiring an additional 295,187 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on DHR. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Danaher from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $290.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Monday, December 23rd. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $265.00 target price for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $237.78 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $171.74 billion, a PE ratio of 45.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $222.53 and a twelve month high of $281.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $235.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $253.56.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

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.