Ascent Group LLC Purchases 2,679 Shares of Danaher Corporation $DHR

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its ownership of Danaher Corporation by 147.8% during the first quarter, now holding a total of 4,491 shares worth approximately $921,000.
• Danaher announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, which will be paid out on October 31st, representing an annual yield of 0.7%.
• The company recently reported earnings of $1.80 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with a revenue increase of 3.4% year-over-year.

Ascent Group LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 147.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,491 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 2,679 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 396.0% in the 1st quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 124 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 116.9% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 141 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 68.4% in the 1st quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 165 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $241.00 price target on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. UBS Group cut their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $225.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Danaher from $240.00 to $235.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Danaher from $210.00 to $205.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Danaher from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $275.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $246.35.

Danaher Stock Down 2.6%

DHR stock traded down $5.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $190.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,898,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,078,736. The company has a market cap of $136.10 billion, a PE ratio of 40.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.75. Danaher Corporation has a 12 month low of $171.00 and a 12 month high of $279.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm's 50-day moving average is $201.21 and its 200-day moving average is $198.90.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.83 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 14.21%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 EPS. Danaher has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.700-7.800 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is presently 27.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In other news, Director Teri List sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.06, for a total transaction of $586,324.68. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,379,706.06. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 11.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.