World Investment Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) by 973.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,067 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 119,767 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Danaher were worth $36,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Danaher in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Danaher in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $50,000. 79.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Danaher Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DHR opened at $230.12 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $251.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $258.69. Danaher Co. has a fifty-two week low of $215.68 and a fifty-two week high of $281.70. The company has a market capitalization of $166.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.35 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 (NYSE:DHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 16.39%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Danaher Co. will post 7.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Danaher from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Danaher in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays reduced their price target on Danaher from $285.00 to $275.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Danaher in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $280.00 price objective for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.