Empirical Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR)

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 63,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $14,583,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DHR. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Danaher in the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Danaher in the third quarter valued at $40,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher in the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Danaher during the 3rd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DHR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Danaher from $333.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Danaher in a report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $275.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Danaher from $309.00 to $305.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on Danaher from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Danaher from $275.00 to $278.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Danaher has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.80.

Danaher Stock Performance

Shares of Danaher stock opened at $241.94 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $253.45. The company has a market cap of $174.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.83. Danaher Co. has a one year low of $222.53 and a one year high of $281.70. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.14. Danaher had a net margin of 16.39% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The company had revenue of $5.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 7.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Danaher Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. Danaher’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.61%.

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.