Avanza Fonder AB Takes $10.99 Million Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 47,876 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $10,990,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $6,566,116,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,631 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Danaher by 2.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after buying an additional 139,989 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,097,986 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,417,342,000 after purchasing an additional 148,251 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Danaher by 2.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 4,552,640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,265,725,000 after buying an additional 116,299 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Danaher by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,582,982 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $996,141,000 after buying an additional 535,254 shares in the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of DHR opened at $241.28 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $235.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $253.45. The firm has a market cap of $174.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.19, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.37. Danaher Co. has a twelve month low of $222.53 and a twelve month high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James reduced their price target on Danaher from $310.00 to $300.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Danaher currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.80.

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.