Fmr LLC Boosts Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fmr LLC increased its position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 15.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned about 3.27% of Danaher worth $6,566,116,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 3.2% in the third quarter. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC now owns 238,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,194,000 after acquiring an additional 7,421 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter worth about $217,000. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Danaher in the second quarter valued at about $363,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its stake in Danaher by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Danaher by 75.4% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,360 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,090,000 after purchasing an additional 1,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Danaher Trading Up 0.8 %

Danaher stock opened at $237.65 on Tuesday. Danaher Co. has a 12-month low of $215.68 and a 12-month high of $281.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.65 billion, a PE ratio of 45.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $259.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were given a dividend of $0.27 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Company Profile

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.