23,894 Shares in Danaher Corporation $DHR Purchased by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,894 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $4,737,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DHR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Danaher by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,769,587 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $12,004,424,000 after buying an additional 788,499 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Danaher by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,726,194 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,697,800,000 after acquiring an additional 81,670 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 2nd quarter worth $1,979,503,000. Generation Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of Danaher by 56.2% in the second quarter. Generation Investment Management LLP now owns 4,965,646 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $980,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,787,522 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Danaher by 4.0% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,822,442 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $952,625,000 after purchasing an additional 186,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on DHR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 29th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $255.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $254.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus set a $265.00 price target on Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.86.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR stock opened at $208.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.51. Danaher Corporation has a one year low of $171.00 and a one year high of $242.80. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $227.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $147.28 billion, a PE ratio of 41.37, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.91.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.14 by $0.09. Danaher had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is a global science and technology company that designs, manufactures and markets products and services for the life sciences, diagnostics, and environmental and applied markets. The company organizes its operations into business segments focused on Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions, supplying instruments, reagents, software and related services that support research, clinical testing, biopharmaceutical development, and industrial and environmental monitoring.

Products and services in Danaher’s portfolio include analytical and diagnostic instruments, laboratory consumables and reagents, digital and software solutions for workflow and data management, field and industrial monitoring equipment, and service and maintenance programs.