Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stock Position in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR - Free Report) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,793 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Danaher were worth $6,150,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Danaher by 15.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,617,424 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,566,116,000 after acquiring an additional 3,217,631 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Danaher by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,964,031 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,490,112,000 after purchasing 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 Danaher by 3.0% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Danaher by 2.6% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of Danaher by 17.6% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 79.05% of the company's stock.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE:DHR traded up $3.97 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $241.94. 3,148,897 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,191,500. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $235.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $253.45. 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 company has a market cap of $174.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a 1 year low of $222.53 and a 1 year high of $281.70.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. Danaher's quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.27 per share. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Danaher from $278.00 to $277.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Danaher from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, December 14th. TD Cowen upped their target price 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. Finally, Stephens reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $315.00 price target on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $286.80.

About Danaher

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.