American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 93,465 Shares of Danaher Corporation $DHR

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR) by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,083,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 93,465 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.15% of Danaher worth $214,720,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $462,000. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position in Danaher by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 249,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $49,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,862 shares during the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 526,950 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $104,094,000 after acquiring an additional 30,300 shares during the last quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Danaher by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 25,340 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,024,000 after acquiring an additional 8,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nvwm LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 20.4% in the second quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 7,093 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 29th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Danaher from $270.00 to $265.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Danaher from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 2nd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $253.86.

Danaher Stock Up 0.4%

DHR stock opened at $210.28 on Friday. Danaher Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $171.00 and a fifty-two week high of $242.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.72, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $225.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.23.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 27th. The conglomerate reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.14 by $0.09. Danaher had a net margin of 14.71% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. Danaher’s revenue was up 4.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Danaher Corporation will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Danaher’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 27th. Danaher’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Danaher

In related news, EVP Gregory M. Milosevich sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $208.01, for a total value of $274,573.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,099 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,060,642.99. The trade was a 20.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 11.10% of the company’s stock.

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.