Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) Shares Bought by AIA Group Ltd

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 174,999 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 5,688 shares during the period. Danaher comprises about 1.3% of AIA Group Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Danaher were worth $48,653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 1st quarter valued at about $276,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 18.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 71,432 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $17,838,000 after buying an additional 11,221 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Danaher by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 15,179 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,790,000 after acquiring an additional 6,932 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in Danaher during the 1st quarter worth approximately $344,000. Finally, Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the first quarter valued at approximately $286,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Stock Down 0.0 %

DHR stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $245.99. 1,780,484 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,738,740. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $265.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.97, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.85. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $192.35 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The business had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 27th. Danaher's payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Activity at Danaher

In related news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total transaction of $255,488.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,130,374.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DHR shares. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on Danaher from $270.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.