Fred Alger Management LLC Buys 130,435 Shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 530,320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 130,435 shares during the quarter. Danaher accounts for about 0.7% of Fred Alger Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $147,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fort Pitt Capital Group LLC increased 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 worth $66,194,000 after purchasing an additional 7,421 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter valued at $217,000. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in Danaher during the second quarter worth $363,000. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. grew its holdings in Danaher by 1.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 202,263 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $56,233,000 after purchasing an additional 2,465 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Danaher by 75.4% in the second 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 Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $238.83 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $255.25 and a 200 day moving average of $259.52. The company has a market capitalization of $172.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.58, a PEG ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 12 month low of $215.68 and a 12 month high of $281.70. 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 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. 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.16.

Danaher 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.