Erste Asset Management GmbH Makes New $5.99 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 21,740 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $5,988,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Danaher by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 16,567 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,677 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG increased its position in shares of Danaher by 25.8% during the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 105,590 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $29,356,000 after acquiring an additional 21,670 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 466.1% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 10,965 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,048,000 after acquiring an additional 9,028 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in Danaher by 82.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 653,375 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $181,651,000 after acquiring an additional 295,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its stake in Danaher by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 530,320 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $147,440,000 after purchasing an additional 130,435 shares during the last quarter. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Danaher from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Danaher in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.16.

Danaher Stock Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $241.27 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $254.59 and its 200-day moving average is $259.41. The firm has a market cap of $174.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 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 quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

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

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.