B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Makes New $77.31 Million Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 278,089 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $77,314,000. Danaher accounts for about 0.8% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DHR. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Danaher by 1.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 2,153 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $538,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of Danaher by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,231 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 1,230 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of Kansas increased its holdings in Danaher by 4.1% in the second quarter. Trust Co of Kansas now owns 1,022 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. lifted its stake in Danaher by 0.7% in the second quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc. now owns 5,439 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

DHR traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $230.76. 2,608,177 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,764,661. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $261.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $260.45. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $207.63 and a one year high of $281.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.85.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company's revenue was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Danaher Co. will post 7.51 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 27th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Danaher's dividend payout ratio is 20.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Danaher news, SVP Georgeann Couchara sold 952 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.37, for a total value of $255,488.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,130,374.44. This trade represents a 18.44 % 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $315.00 price objective on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp upped their target price on Danaher from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Danaher from $250.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of Danaher from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.