Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Has $5.29 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,231 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Danaher were worth $5,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in Danaher during the first quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $230.51 on Friday. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $206.30 and a 1 year 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $262.20 and its 200-day moving average is $260.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.99, a PEG ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were given a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Danaher’s payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $255,488.24. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,212 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DHR. Leerink Partners boosted their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Danaher from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

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.