Howard Capital Management Group LLC Acquires New Holdings in Danaher Corporation $DHR

Key Points

• Howard Capital Management Group acquired 9,992 Danaher shares worth approximately $2.21 million in the third quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 79.05% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $235.41. TD Cowen, Goldman Sachs, and Guggenheim recently raised their price targets, while Wells Fargo lowered its target and maintained an “equal weight” rating.
• Danaher shares recently traded at $228.87, near their 52-week high, after the company beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, representing a 0.7% annualized yield.

Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,992 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $2,214,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Veery Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Veery Capital LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Danaher by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 1,581 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $302,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. JDH Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Danaher by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. JDH Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its holdings in Danaher by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 12,114 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $2,297,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adelphi Trust Co increased its holdings in Danaher by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Adelphi Trust Co now owns 2,365 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $524,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $236.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Danaher from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $212.00 to $195.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $235.41.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR stock traded down $2.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $228.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,516,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,667,069. Danaher Corporation has a 52-week low of $160.93 and a 52-week high of $242.80. The company has a market cap of $160.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.76. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $214.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $195.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 20th. The conglomerate reported $1.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.12 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 15.95% and a return on equity of 11.04%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Corporation will post 8.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 28.42%.

Danaher Profile

Danaher Corporation NYSE: DHR is a global science and technology company that develops and manufactures products, services and solutions for the life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology industries. Its offerings help researchers, healthcare professionals and biopharmaceutical manufacturers discover, develop, produce and analyze medicines and other biological products.

The company operates through businesses that provide laboratory instruments, consumables, software and services, including technologies for cell analysis, genomics, protein research, bioprocessing and clinical diagnostics.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DHR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.