Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Sold by Castle Hook Partners LP

Castle Hook Partners LP reduced its stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 27.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 188,223 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 72,553 shares during the period. Danaher comprises approximately 1.0% of Castle Hook Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Castle Hook Partners LP’s holdings in Danaher were worth $52,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DHR. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Danaher by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 7,949 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,985,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 1,284 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $170,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 41,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,311,000 after buying an additional 1,768 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $459,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Danaher Stock Up 1.0 %

DHR stock opened at $238.90 on Thursday. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $215.68 and a 52 week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $172.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $256.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $259.66. 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 (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. Danaher’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DHR has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Danaher from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.